Commemorative Covers and Postmarks

SPECIAL COVERS - Covers produced by the Post Office with official envelopes (and cachets) and commemorative postmarks. These envelopes generally, but not always, have "Special Cover" printed on them in English and have the official Post Office logo on the back flap.

COMMEMORATIVE POSTMARKS - Covers bearing commemorative cancellations. These covers are serviced by individuals and are found on a variety of envelopes and postal stationery. There are no cachets on the envelopes. These are created when the Postal Department does not produce a "Special Cover", only the commemorative postmark.

PRIVATELY PRODUCED CACHETS FOR COMMEMORATIVE POSTMARKS - These covers are privately made to complement the commemorative postmark created by the Post Office when the P.O. does not make an envelope for the event being celebrated.

PRIVATELY PRODUCED EVENT COVERS - Covers produced by individuals for an occasion they consider important, or of interest. These covers have privately produced cachets of varying quality, and regular postmarks (Not commemorative). If it were not for the cachets one would not know the significance of the covers.

A November 28, 1999 "Special Cover" and commemoratiave postmark commemorating the "Gas Supply to Western Zone."

As in many parts of the world, the Rotary Club plays an important role. This cover commemorates a philatelic exhibition entitled "ROTAPEC '94." A "Special Cover" and three commemorative postmarks were created for the event. Each day, of the three day event, a different postmark was used. The postmark on the cover illustrated above was for "Aids Awareness," and is dated March 9, 1994. The two illustrations of postmarks were applied to covers with the same cachet but the one is for "Education For All," (March 8, 1994) and the other for"ROTAPEX '94" (March 7, 1994), the first day of the show.

A very attractive "Special Cover" and commemorative postmark celebrating "National Parliament Election," and dated February 27, 1991.

"Special Covers" cancelled with the commemorative postmark, but without stamps. It appears that there are numerous covers similar to this. If you are not aware of what they are, they appear to be a great mystery. They are really quite attractive in their own right. I hope this becomes a regular practice as they are nice examples of the cachets and the postmarks and are interesting additions to a collection.

A commemorative postmark on a cover with a privately produced cachet. This cover is for a philatelic exhibition - BAPEX '82, where Mr. M.A Salam was the sole exhibiter, an honor only he holds in the history of Bangladesh stamp collecting. Additionaloly, he was honored with a second exhibition in April of 2005. Several different covers were made for that exhibition as well and are illustrated below. I had this cover autographed by Mr. Salam when he visited me in the summer of 2001, when I was living in Peoria, Illinois, USA.

Two covers from 1984. The cover on the left has the UPU emblem in the middle of the center circle. It is dated October 9, 1984.
The second cover has the United Nations F.A.O. with the grain logo located in the small circles on the sides of the man plowing.

Another commemorative postmark on a privately produced cover with a cachet. The event is the historic visit of Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India to Bangladesh, from March 17th to 19th, 1972. What is unusual, in my opinion, is that the stamp is a Pakistani stamp with a blue "Bangladesh" overprint in Bengali. This cover was created after the release of several Bangladesh stamp sets. Perhaps the choice of this stamp holds deeper meaning for those who created the cover.

The above cover and aerogramme both have the same postmark celebrating the visit of Prime Minister Gandhi to Bangladesh. However, the cover on the left has the cancellation used for both dates of the visit. Again, the cover has Pakistani stamps overprinted in Bengali and English.
The aerogramme was actually issued on the date of this cancellation so it is really a First Day Cover as well.

These two covers, and the ones illustrated below, are the more typical of those with commemorative postmarks. No cachets were created by the government, and the envelopes used by collectors are of varying sizes and types.
The postmark on the left is commemorating the Charter Presentation Ceremony of the Rotary Club of Dilkusha, Dhaka, and is dated April 21, 1995.
The postmark on the right is very plain and of excellent design. The occasion is the Centenary of Cinema and is dated December 31, 1995.

The well thought out cover on the left has a commemorative postmark honoring the first flight From Dhaka, via Dubai, to Amsterdam. The postmark is dated October 31, 1994. The majority of the cancellations are black. Dr. Haq told me he was responsible for the red ink. He tried to tie the colors of the envelope, the cancellation, the stamp and the total design together. Notice how many airplane images there are, including the envelope, cancellation and stamp.
The postmark on the right is dated May 17, 1978 and commemorates the 10th World Tele-Communications Day. Note that the old way of spelling the capital (Dacca) was used. This dates from the period before the spelling was officially changed.

A beautifully designed private cachet for the Commemorative Cancellation for the 30th Anniversary of Bangladesh postage stamps. The cachet was designed by Syed Ahsan Habib in Bangladesh, with a printing of 800 envelopes. Various stamps, and sets of stamps, were used on the covers.

More Privately Made Special Event Covers

A December 10, 1974 cover of a special flight for AEROPEX-74. betweem Calcitta amd Dacca. This cover was created by the Air Mail Society of India. The cover is numbered (This is #149) on the back, and is has a postmark of the "Tejgoan Air Port". This used to be the International airport for Dacca, but is now a flight school.