The envelope matters in a big way! Many cachets (the design on the envelope) are mass produced, some monochrome, some two-tone, some full color, some from engravings, some offset printing, some printed on silk, some hand drawn by amateurs. I collected a lot of FDC's back in the 70's. Being interested in insects I got carried away with a USPS butterfly issue and accumulated about 70 different cachets for that one issue. For most commercial cachets there is a little label or trademark somewhere in the design (e.g. Artcraft, Artmaster, Fleetwood et al.). I find it hightly improbable that a modern FDC with a standard rate commemorative stamp would be worth $25 unless it is a handcrafted, extremely limited edition of rather high quality. Back in the 70's most of them cost $1-3 to buy.

rich r