scouting postage stamp

[Mr. Boyce]

it's a nice design, but in a way, it's not really about the Boy Scouts of America.

 

It just says "scouting." The person on the stamp is some guy out west, wearing a red shirt and brown pants. Could be anyone out on a hike, doing some "scouting" around.

 

Compare this to the 50th anniversary stamp, which contains bold elements about the BSA: a Norman Rockwell picture, scout in uniform, hand making the scout sign, and the words clearly identifying the organization.

 

Politics in the 24-7, post-911 world are so tense that the BSA is a contentious thing. There's very little "live and let live," but everyone and everything is drawn into the nasty battling. So a kind of risk-avoidance, I think, steered the art choice for the stamp.

[RememberSchiff]

It is about the "activity" of Scouting and not any scouting organization, at least according to this article. (I believe it was released at our 100th as a way to increase sales).

 

http://www.antique-stamp-collection.com/TB/?P=2401

 

"Stamp illustrator Craig Frazier loves seeing his work in the mail or rather, on the mail. I never get tired of seeing my stamps on an envelope. Its thrilling, he says. Theres something very official about it.

 

Therein lies a challenge for the U.S. Postal Service. As Frazier recognizes, commemoration on a stamp is a nearly universal symbol of arrival into national significance. Yet how many worthy organizations might deserve such recognition? Many. How many slots are available? Not many.

 

Back in the 1980s, pressure to recognize different groups grew so great that the Postal Service had to issue a blanket policy: We dont do organizations.

 

But occasionally, they will do activities things like scouting. We chose to do a stamp about scouting because it so deeply embraces the culture of our country, says Terry McCaffrey, manager of stamp development for the Postal Service.

 

Scouting runs deep in our national consciousness. Many people treasure the scouting experiences of their own past, or that of siblings, parents, or friends. Whats more, scouting calls to mind the simpler times of a nation shaped by the frontier.

 

Although the unveiling of the Scouting stamp also coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts, the stamp will celebrate far more. Its not only Boy Scouts, but its Girl Scouts, its Camp Fire USA, McCaffrey says. Its all the organizations that embody the ideals of scouting. ..."

 

That's their explanation anyway.

 

My 2 stamps,

 

 

 

[DYB-Mike]

I agree that the stamp design leaves a lot to be desired. I disliked it so much that I only reluctantly bought a pane just to mail letters and Im a stamp collector!

 

Contrast the stamp with the commemorative US dollar issued a few months previous. It is clearly a BSA design, with a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and female Venturer saluting on the obverse and a big bold, BSA emblem on the reverse. Its a nice design and I made sure I obtained a proof copy from the mint.

 

All this is to say that, given the dollars design, I dont think politics influenced the design of the stamp. What they were thinking, however, is beyond me. I will say that in the latest issue of the American Philatelist, a stamp collecting publication, a drawing of Baden Powell, dressed much like the cowboy on the stamp and scouting about in African bush, accompanied a discussion of the stamp. Was there some such drawing of Baden Powell that influenced the design? Even so, we are celebrating 100 years of the BSA, not Baden Powell.

 

YIS

Mike

 

[DYB-Mike]

Schiff, thanks for the info. I didnt know the USPS had that no organizations commemorative policy.

 

Still, the design seems disconnected from the groups and sentiment mentioned in the article. Maybe depicting some youth (boys and girls) sitting around a campfire or hiking with backpacks would have been a better generic design?

 

The thing that galls me the most about the design is the hat. Now if it were a campaign hat the stamp would be more palatable to me, somewhat resembling the Baden Powell drawing of the crouching Scout that one often sees. Again, were not commemorating Baden Powell, but at least the design would have been more scouty.

 

YIS

Mike

 

[Mr. Boyce]

you know, at the end of the day, I'm grateful there IS a stamp.

 

The US Post Office statements just sounds like bafflegab.

 

Clearly there are some organizations that stand head and shoulders above others in America. . . the Red Cross, the National Guard, the United Way, the YMCA, various service clubs. The multimillion member organizations deserve to be on stamps when their time comes, so I hope the Girl Scouts get a stamp as well.

 

(But maybe not the Saturday Morning Birdwatchers Society of Marin County, or the South Florida Beetle Collectors Club).