Now Is The Time
Collect World Jamboree Philatelic Items
John B. Adams

Have you made arrangements with your supplier of Scout stamps for the various postal emissions and philatelic souvenirs from the next Jamboree?

Starting in 1920, there has usually been a World Boy Scout Jamboree every four years.  (The exceptions have been the period between the 1937 Jamboree and the 1947 Jamboree, and the period between the 1975 Jamboree and the 1983 Jamboree).  Several years before the event, the World Scout Committee selects a national Scout Association to host the Jamboree.  And an effort is made to schedule the event on different continents of the world.

The nation in which the host association is located becomes the host country.  Scouting has been honored philatelically by the host country for the World Boy Scout Jamboree for over 65 years.  Beginning in 1929 with the III Jamboree in England, there has been some type of special cancellation.  And beginning in 1933 with the IV Jamboree in Hungary, the host country has issued some type of a postal adhesive or postal card.

Items which can be found from previous Jamborees include not only the mint stamps/postal card and the first day cover (FDC), but also the following: registered FDC, a cancellation for every day the Jamboree cancellation is in use, FDC program folder (signed by the designer, engraver, or special guests at the dedication of the stamp), a cancellation tying the stamp to an envelope for each day of the Jamboree in which the stamp was in use, pasting the stamp on the stamp announcement bulletin to receive a FDC cancel on the stamp, special Jamboree cancellation used at other locations in the host country (if cancellation is different), special cachets, etc.

The list is almost endless, but the items that you are able to get will be closely tailored to your pre-planning for the event.  One cannot assume that certain items of philatelic importance will be available for one's collection unless one makes arrangements for them prior to the Jamboree.


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