Brand: Benham Silk: Royal Horticultural Society, Westminster Flower Shows

Benham Number: BOCS (3)1

Limited Edition number: unstated but only a handful signed

Postmark: Westminster, London SW1 FDI Special  postmark 

Address; unaddressed 

Flight Cover: no

Signed Cover: yes- by Chris Brickell then president of the RHS and author of many plant based books

22 Carat Gold Embossing: no

Condition: pristine

Bradbury/BFDC current selling price: £40 this cover, this postmark but without autograph 

condition as per scan, please examine closely before purchase it is part of the description, please note I do not make a distinction when listing if the flap of the cover is sealed or unsealed, it should be visible in the photo but if this is important to you please ask before buying.

I always combine shipping, no matter how many items you buy! If you have difficulties with eBay message me.

This or a similar item is being sold on the British First Day Cover website from £20+ often a lot more

- BFDC is a specialist FDC and cover website that publishes its own catalogue which lists all the special hand stamps, producers and varieties of GB First Day Covers in existence, their selling prices are a good guide to current market values on GB covers/FDCs in general and I am using it here in lieu of Stanley Gibbons rather basic pricing. My prices are very competitive in comparison but also reflect the condition of the item being sold. 

Benham are a first day cover producer based in Folkestone in Kent, they produce a wide arrange of covers annually, with well thought out designs using a ?silk? printing method for the cover design, they often use 22ct gold embossing on their covers. They produce covers in very limited quantities and where this is known it is mentioned in the listing details in the format 1/100 eg number 1 of 100 copies

BFDC also lists numerous Railway, Military, RAF and other commemorative covers, these were often issued in quantities far lower than for First Day Covers and provide an extensive and fascinating area of philately

This is a growing area of collecting, where cover collectors are looking to expand there run of the mill FDC collection to include the myriad of small producers such as Benham, Philart, Conoisseur, Cotswold ,Wessex, Stuart, Mercury, Universal etc. and also to have a selection of some of the special handstamps available for each issue, often with a relationship to the stamp issue. Sometimes even a CDS or ordinary FDI postmark or slogan postmark will also add to the value when it relates in someway to the issue, its a great way of expanding a FDC collection beyond the generic PO covers. Unaddressed covers are generally worth more, followed by small labels,hand stamped , typed and then hand addressed. It is unusual to find pre 1970s covers unaddressed or even with typed ones, the majority being handwritten, in such cases the quality of the handwriting can make a difference. Destination if unusual, can also add value, if it illustrates the reach of the Commonwealth or old Empire.

FDCs from some of the smaller producers were produced in much smaller quantities than the generic Post Office/Royal Mail ones. As more Post Offices have shut, in latter years covers produced by Philart and Stuart have become harder to find, as these were mostly sold to collectors by local sub postmasters.Cotswold continue to produce a fine range of covers much sought after by collectors for the quality of their production. Royal Mail covers are now also hard to find unaddressed. 

CDS= circular date stamp

FDI= first day of issue handstamp

Special Handstamp= a pictorial postmark specially produced for that issue, 

slogan postmark =  a machine postmark that features either public service or an advertising promotion- these can be valuable in themselves especially if connected in some way to the subject of the stamps

wavy line = a non slogan machine postmark  

Regd = Registered post