Congratulations to our friends at the Spanish Scout Stamp Club "Filatelico de Scouts y Guias" on their 30th Anniversary.  To celebrate this event, they held their tenth International Exhibition during October in the city of Madrid, and having attended two or three of their previous shows, I am sure it was a great success.  If you have never been to one of their 'fraternity' lunches, you have really missed a great occasion.

A few months ago Gert Muller of Germany sold (and I use their description) "Lot 4518 - Scout World Jamboree 1933, wonderful blocks of four on five, correctly franked registered Zeppelin covers to South America flight with connection flight via Berlin, with the various special confirmation stamp, as well also the Scout stamp, to Brazil with transit and arrival postmarks.  Impressive, in this kind unique set for the sophisticated Hungarian, Zeppelin or Scout collection".  Although rather philatelic they sold for €2200 against their estimate of €1000.

Not many blocks of Mafeking stamps come up for sale these days, so I was interested to read that Cavendish Auctions sold (and I use their description again) "Mafeking Siege Stamps - 1900 1d on 1/2d block of eight (4 x 2) on small piece with multiple Mafeking/CGH with circular date stamps.  Fine and scarce, Est. £200" made £340.  The rates for the GBP have changed since Brexit, but this was about €390 US$ 410).  The largest and second largest of all Mafeking overprinted stamps was of this value, the largest block of 29 being sold at the 'Maria de La Queillerie' sale held by Harmer of London in 1970.

During October these two 1918 Scout Post items were sold by auction at Prague in the Czech Republic.  The postcard, of which only 1000 were produced, was not addressed and did not have a message on the reverse, so not so collectable.  It did have the 10h printed stamp cancelled on 20 November and the two line Scout delivery cachet signed by Böhma.  Estimated at 15,000 CZK, it sold for 31,000 CZK which is about £1000.  The cover with the Masaryk overprint, posted on 21 November 1918, the day that President Masaryk arrived back in Prague from exile in the United States, having previously been in Italy, Switzerland, London and Russia.  It shows the 20h stamp with the "Arrival of President Masaryk" overprint in black.  Despite having a number of expert certificates, it had an estimate of 25,000 CZK but sold at a reasonable price of 45,000CZK which is about £1450.

One other item that took my interest was this postcard sent by a member of the Austrian contingent attending the 1929 World Jamboree at Birkenhead.  It shows the blue cachet in both German and English "Boy Scouts of Austria, Jamboree Birkenhead 1929".  Sent to Vienna on 7 August 1929 from Wallasey, the nearby town of Birkenhead, it does have the ½d and 1d (but unfortunately stuck upside down) stamps issued for the 9th Universal Postal Union Congress.  I had not seen this cachet before, but I do know that a similar one was in the late Walter Grob's collection and used at the 1933 World Jamboree held at Gödöll?, Hungary.  Sold in Vienna in November, this cover was estimated at €50 but sold for €380.