U.S. Scout cinderellas 1950

Alongside the official 3¢ U.S. postage stamp for the Boy Scouts of America (Scott 995), 1950 produced a wave of non-postal Scout labels — cinderellas, poster stamps and seals sold or given for publicity, camp fund-raising and collector exchange. None of the four items in this series paid postage; they belong to the private-label tradition that flourished around American National Jamborees.

The 2nd National Scout Jamboree was held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, from 27 June to 6 July 1950 — the first national jamboree since 1937, delayed by the Second World War. About 47,000 Scouts and Explorers camped on the historic park. The jamboree seal (Washington kneeling in prayer at Valley Forge, red disc with yellow sunburst, «NATIONAL JAMBOREE VALLEY FORGE 1950 B·S·A») is the classic private emblem of that event, widely used on mail, patches and souvenir sheets rather than as a government stamp.

Two smaller multicolour poster stamps belong to contemporary BSA publicity: «ONWARD FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY» — the patriotic Scout slogan of the period, with Scout figures and a silhouette of George Washington — and a «CUB SCOUTS · B.S.A.» portrait seal promoting the Cub Scout program. Both are typical 1940s–50s American charity/publicity labels without face value.

The large yellow «SOS» label (letters filled with a collage of world Scout stamps, SOSSI-style fleur-de-lis) is a Scouts-on-Stamps Society collector promotional cinderella, not an official BSA jamboree issue. It advertises the hobby of collecting Scout stamps rather than franking mail.

Catalogued here as four private pieces only — no Domfil or Scott postage numbers. Order: slogan seal, Cub Scout seal, then SOSSI large label and Valley Forge jamboree seal (the latter two Wanted).