Editing First day of issue (section)

===Special handstamps===
[[File:1924 British Empire Exhibition special postmark and slogan postmark.jpg|thumb|right|Examples of special slogan and special postmarks for the 1924 British Empire Exhibition]]

With postmarks becoming more and more important to the covers, pictorial postmarks became very popular. Pictorial postmarks are also known as Special Handstamps/Postmarks. In 1924, the first commemorative set of stamps for the British Empire Exhibition had both special postmarks and a special slogan, but it was not until the late 1960s and early 1970s that dealers and organisations really caught on that you could sponsor/design a connected postmark and it would make an ordinary cover something special.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} These days anyone can sponsor a postmark. They need to design the postmark, get it approved by [[Royal Mail]] and then pay a fee. The postmark then becomes the property of Royal Mail and anyone is allowed to use it on their covers. This means that to a certain extent, most cover producers “borrow” other people’s postmarks. However, to be an “official” cover, a postmark has to be on the cover produced by the organisation that sponsored the postmark in the first place.<ref>{{cite web |author=Royal Mail |title=All About Postmarks |url=http://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/Postmarks_2012.pdf |year=2007 |website=Royal Mail |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150616000314/https://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/Postmarks_2012.pdf |archive-date=16 June 2015}}</ref>