"Pep" stamps or seals often had Jake the Lone Scout mascot on them. Jake was designed by Perry Emerson Thompson (P.E.T.) - designer of numerous Lone Scout magazine covers. Jake was first offered for sale on June 1, 1918. These stamps were sold through the Lone Bear Tepee, a novelty company in Chicago.
Lone Star Scouts used Pep stamps on cards and letters sent to other LSA members. This print advertisement for Pep stamps appeared in the Lone Scout newspaper.
Two different sets are shown here. One set is green/red/black and the other set is blue/red/black. They were gummed, perforated, in sheets of 24 different subjects and were sold for 10 cents a sheet or three for 25 cents. Jake Pep stamps were available in 1918 - 1920.
Lone Scouts were region conscious as exhibited in the printing and use of Pep Stamps. These Pep Stamps advised such things as "Boost Region V", "Region V is still alive", "Region V the Scout Beehive", and "Region II is best for you".
Many Lone Scouts were amateur journalists and printer-publishers. Their papers, from four to thirty-two or more pages, could be chartered by Long House, or by the National Headquarters if they met the requirements. Some of these publishers of Authorized Lone Scout Amateur Publications (ALSAPS) designed Pep Stamps to boost subscriptions.
These two Pep Stamps were issued in 1930 for the Hustling Mail Tribe by Lone Scout Floyd V. Steutel-Dean. One Pep Stamp read "Hustling Mail Tribe Hustlers all." These gummed seals were used on letterheads, envelopes, magazine wrappers as well as in scrap books.
Because Lone Scout Pep Stamps were issued not only before the merger with Boy Scouting, but after the merger, they form an important historical segment of Scout philately.
Editor's note: Floyd V. Steutel-Dean would later apply his talents with seals to production of "Deans Local Post."
SOSSI Journal, Volume 10, Number 6, June 1961
Reprinted from Lone Scout Volume VIII, May 24, 1919.