FFC First Flight Covers : Are all BOGUS?

Hello Gandhi philatelist,

What is First Flight Cover ?

A cover officially carried on inaugural first flight of  airlines new route or new  aircraft which is flying for first time to particular route with stamps of originating country and cancellation date stamp of that particular date. Also it should have cancellation from destination city post office with next same day of next day.

Now look at the following FFC and decide whether this is Genuine or BOGUS (never flown.!!). Reason for BOGUS is stamp is not from originating country, also CDS from Cape Carneval is on Feb 20th where as first flight is on May 4.!!

First Flight Airlines :- Airberlin (AB8481)

From :- Gdansk, Poland (But no stamps from Poland on this FFC.!!)

To :- Berlin, Germany

First Flight Date :- May 4th, 2012

Postage stamp :- 8 cents Gandhi & 98 cents Grant Teton National Park from USA.

Special Cancellation :- Cape Canaveral, FL, USA.

Date of Cancellation :- Feb 20th, 2012.

After looking to this kind of forgery in 2012 FFC, I think all Gandhi FFC from Germany, Morocco, Syria are nothing but BOGUS or Forgery. This is my personal opinion about Gandhi FFC after looking in my collection!!

According to me this FFC never traveled in first flight!! They just affixed stamp on envelope, put some rubber stamp as cachet and CDS.!!

Who knows whether it was really first flight in 1969.!!

Look at following cover which was made by my son and send it to Algeria.!! It also has official barcode which indicates it travelled to Algeria.!!

Is this a First flight cover?

No it's not a first flight cover but an event cover to celebrate 50th Anniversary of First American in orbit.!!

So BEWARE what you are collecting and why are you collecting and at what price.!!

Read my following blog post to understand about stamp collection in DECLINE.!!

1) A Hobby in Decline : 1948 Gandhi USED cover case study.!!
2) A Hobby in Decline.!! - Part-2
3) How to invest when philately price is dropping.

If you see stamps are not even selling or selling like 5-10 times lower their value than mentioned in catalog.!!

There is nothing RARE or Scare in philately because this hobby is in downward trend because experienced collectors are loosing interest because value is not appreciating and new collectors are not coming in to this because there are lot of other things to do for them such as playing video games on Nintendo or X-box , social networking on facebook or google+ or  surfing on web through internet or SMS through iphone or android or watch games such as cricket, football or basketball.!!

There is little chance of philately can survive by stopping cheating in this hobby. Yes CHEATING.!! which is what you will see in order to increase value artificially by inflating the price by SHILL bidding, not paying to seller or mutual understanding cancelling transaction and lot more.

To know more about this kind of activity read my following blog post and think what are the possibilities in cheating, glorification, SHILL bidding, FAKE, Forgery etc.

1) 1948 Stamps False hope of Riches?
2) 1948 Gandhi Stamps: Are False hope of Riches - Part II ?
3) 1948 Gandhi Mourning Private FDC : Are False hope of Riches - Part III?
4) 1948 Expensive Gandhi FDC : Are False hope of Riches - Part IV?
5) 1948 Gandhi Stamps Early Usage cover :  Gandhi Stamps Are False hope of Riches - Part V?
6) Maxi Card sold for $5100 with 1948 Gandhi Stamps - False hope of Riches - Part VI?
7) Indian Philately Exposed 
8) Indian Philately Exposed - Part II
9) Gandhi SERVICE overprint stamp price fell from $1009 to $1.!!
10) How can you tell that Gandhi SERVICE stamp is FAKE or Forgery ?

I hope all the above will help while making decision in investing stamps and to avoid getting CHEATED.!!

Now don't you think it does NOT make sense STAMP INVESTING!!

Thanks

Gandhi Stamps Club.