It is surprising how buyers can go crazy when bidding at an auction and this also applies to eBay.  In December a Mafeking small head Baden-Powell was offered in mint condition.  The starting price was £85.00 which sxxx5 (we are no longer allowed to find the name of the bidder) started the bidding.  He then placed 25 more bids but finally lost this to lxxxl who had placed only two bids at the very high price of £1500 (approximately US$2400, Euro €1800).  In my opinion, it would still be very expensive at half this price.

The most exciting find brought to my attention recently by one of our members was a very early Meter Slogan advertising the 1939 World Rover Moot held at Monzie Castle, Scotland.  This is dated 19 April 1939, and although not quite complete, it states "8000 Rover Scouts bid you welcome to the World Rover Scout Moot, Crieff Scotland 15-28 July 1939".  Our President Peter Duck and I have never known that this meter slogan existed, and if you know of another, we would be delighted to know the date of use.  A few are recorded with the words "Visit the International Gathering of 8000 Rover Scouts at Crieff, Scotland 15-28 July 1939" and the one shown (see right) is dated 28 April 1939.  Therefore this meter slogan was changed sometime within the next nine days of the earlier example dated 19 April.  There must have been hundreds of postal items with both of these meter marks used at the time, but very few have survived to this day.

In the May-June Bulletin of last year, I wrote and illustrated a very scarce postcard of the Bridport, Dorset Boy Scouts collecting money in aid of the Titanic Relief Fund, for those who lost their lives in this disaster.  This was sold in July 1991 by Vennett- Smith in the U.K. for £220.  Recently RR Auctions of Amherst, New Hampshire, USA sold an identical postcard in auction for US$ 250 (£160, Euro€ 190) against an estimate of US$ 300-400.