1950.IRN.0131st birthday of Mohammad Reza Shah
Iran·1950
Commemorative set for the Shah’s birthday; one Scout / pathfinder design among six values (Scott 935–940)
Series details
Identity
- CodeSeries code YYYY.ENT.SS — year, 3-letter issuing entity, sequence (e.g. 1900.CGH.01).
1950.IRN.01- EntityPostal authority that issued the stamps (country, territory, or historical entity).
- Iran (IRN)
- Year
- 1950-10-26
- Event
- Commemorative set for the Shah’s birthday; one Scout / pathfinder design among six values (Scott 935–940)
- TypeIssue kind. Charity issue = postage + voluntary surcharge (e.g. 6+4), not an overprint.
- Commemorative
Production
- Printer
- Security Bank Note Co., U.S.A.
- Process
- Engraving (recess)
- PerforationsHole gauge between stamps (e.g. 12, 13½). Higher ≈ finer.
- 12½
Catalog numbers
- DomfilDomfil thematic catalog number (scouting).
- 950.18
- ScottScott catalog number (Americas).
- IR 937
- MichelMichel catalog number (Europe / DE).
- IR 828
- YvertYvert & Tellier catalog number (FR).
- IR 745
- Stanley GibbonsStanley Gibbons catalog number (UK / Commonwealth).
- IR 947
History
On 26 October 1950 — the 31st birthday of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (born 26 October 1919) — Iran issued a six-value commemorative set (Scott 935–940) printed in recess by the Security Bank Note Company of the United States. Domfil catalogues the Scout-related value under «25th Anniversary of Sovereignty» (the Pahlavi dynasty had been founded in 1925) as number 950.18, motif «Scout» / Explorador.
Only one design in the set is scouting: the 75 dinar brown and black portrait of the Shah as a pathfinder / Scout (Colnect: «Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavī as a pathfinder»; Scott IR 937 / Michel IR 828 / Yvert IR 745 / Stanley Gibbons IR 947). Perforation is 12½. SOSOW lists first-day place as Teheran and notes that this is one stamp of the six-value birthday set.
For Scouts-on-Stamps collectors the interest is the Shah shown in pathfinder / Scout character on a national birthday issue — a political commemorative that deliberately uses Scout imagery for the young monarch — rather than a jamboree or youth-organisation semi-postal. Only this 75 d value is catalogued as the series piece (sheet SCOUT-1950-IRA-01.1).
ATA 1964 describes the six birthday stamps as portraying Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in various uniforms and at various ages, each with a black vignette and a different coloured border; the Scout-relevant value shows the Shah in Scouter’s uniform (75 dinars, brown and black). Engraving is credited to the Security Bank Note Co., Philadelphia, U.S.A.