At a National Postage Stamp Show in New York, as she viewed my G.S. exhibit, a philatelist asked me if Girl Scouting has enough material to consider it as a topical.
Has it? I think that I convinced her Girl Scouting has the ingredients of a great and interesting specialty.
Start with an album page of the six GS stamps issued by the U.S.:
- 1948 Juliette Low
- 1962 50th Anniversary
- 1962 Canal Zone
- 1964 Ryukyu Islands
- 1987 75th Anniversary
- 1998 U.S. Boy and Girl Scouting Begin.
Follow with a half dozen pages of matching plate blocks of the issues, then a page of pages of local covers of the Juliette Low stamp. See how your new topical is growing?
A whole section of this stamp album is mounted with Girl Scout seals. Most are colorful and attractive. Because philately is not my sole collecting interest, I follow these seals with pages of Girl Scout decals and next more pages of Girl Scout bookplates.
One album can hold your numerous Girl Scout meter slogans on cover and tape. Three full albums contain my Girl Scout cacheted covers.
Then there is deltiology. A thick album full of Girl Scout post cards make for many hours of joyful viewing.
So far, I have referred only to U.S. material. Add Girl Scout/Guide philately from dozens of other countries and you can build a collection so big and fascinating that you'll not look elsewhere for an additional topical.
SOSSI Journal, Volume 25, Number 6, June 1976.
Updates and modifications by Keith Larson