As many of you no doubt know, after Mafeking was relieved in May 1900, Baden-Powell was sent to Rustenburg.  Recently Kohler Auctions sold this cover showing B-P's signature, and the reason why it was not stamped.  Estimated at € 2000, it sold for €13,000 (approx. £9,420, US$14,130).  The catalogue description was:-Stampless cover endorsed at lower left 'No Stamps.  Active Service / R. Baden- Powell Maj.  Gen.' addressed to a Mr.  J. Figorski, Razor Strop Manufacturer in Sheffield, England; struck with RUSTENBURG squared circle datestamp in black of despatch (June 27).  Two line PASSED / CENSOR in black and counter- signed below by 'H. Nicholson, Col.' in red ink.  London 'Paid' arrival cds on front (July 27) in red.  Flap missing on reverse and slight corner crumple to cover at left but extremely rare, Baden-Powell occupied Rustenburg from June 15, 1900.  Note: The letter (not with the lot) was sold at Christies in June, 1993, written on June 25 from Camp Rustenburg to J. Figorski thanking him for a present of a razor strap - 'and am very proud to have so useful an article dedicated to me - in recognition I presume of my attempts to blunt the keenness of the Boers'.

An interesting 1955 Canada World Jamboree stamp came up for sale in Gary Lyon's Canadian "Eastern Auctions" on 7 October.  This shows a misperforated stamp and printed in the gutter at the top.  Estimated at Can$100, it sold for Can$76 (approximately £38, (€52, US$.58).  I had not seen such a stamp before and the price realised seems to be very reasonable.  Another stamp that interested me was the 1966 New Zealand Scout Jamboree stamp with gold omitted in the Scout badge.  It is catalogued by Stanley Gibbons at £1200 mint (SG 838a) and was sold by a London Auction house for £550 (€760, US$825) during October.  I had seen this stamp offered before, but seemed to remember that somehow it is possible to be able to remove the gold.  This stamp did not have an expert certificate.  A similar stamp was sold by Stanley Gibbons Auction in May 1987 for £200 but it was sent for a certificate but according to my records was returned as a fake.

Another issue of stamps that interested me was the imperf 1955 Indonesian Scout set, as this has a high catalogue price and thought to be very scarce.  I was recently informed that blocks of four imperf were going to be sold in Denmark with an estimate of €200.  Thinking that this was a reasonable price when the auction company stated that the catalogue value was €3600+, I was considering bidding for these stamps, but having made contact with an Indonesian dealer he informed me that 4 sheets of 100 stamps were printed imperf.  However what changed my mind about bidding for these blocks, was being informed that Corinphila Auctions of the Netherlands sold two hundred sets imperf in September for €1700.!!

Bob Lee mentioned in the last Bulletin that our member Hallvard Slettebø from Norway had received a Large Gold medal with 96 points at the International Stamp Exhibition in Singapore for his exhibit "World Scouting".  This is a great achievement, and as he has now won three FIP Gold medals, this means that in future exhibitions he can only participate in the Championship class and not in competitive (thematic) class.  Another Scout exhibit in Singapore by Oswaldo Navas from Ecuador "Scouting Movement, Education for Peace" was awarded a Vermeil.