1948.USA.01Girl Scouts of the USA — Juliette Gordon Low
United States·1948
Commemorative honouring Girl Scouts of the United States and founder Juliette Gordon Low
Series details
Identity
- CodeSeries code YYYY.ENT.SS — year, 3-letter issuing entity, sequence (e.g. 1900.CGH.01).
1948.USA.01- EntityPostal authority that issued the stamps (country, territory, or historical entity).
- United States (USA)
- Year
- 1948-10-29
- Event
- Commemorative honouring Girl Scouts of the United States and founder Juliette Gordon Low
- TypeIssue kind. Charity issue = postage + voluntary surcharge (e.g. 6+4), not an overprint.
- Commemorative
Production
- Designer
- William K. Shrage & Ward Beeket
- Printer
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- Process
- Engraving (recess)
- PerforationsHole gauge between stamps (e.g. 12, 13½). Higher ≈ finer.
- Line 11 × 10½
Catalog numbers
- DomfilDomfil thematic catalog number (scouting).
- 948.23
- ScottScott catalog number (Americas).
- US 974
- MichelMichel catalog number (Europe / DE).
- US 587
- YvertYvert & Tellier catalog number (FR).
- US 525
- Stanley GibbonsStanley Gibbons catalog number (UK / Commonwealth).
- US 971
History
On 29 October 1948, at Savannah, Georgia — the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low — the United States issued a 3 cent blue-green commemorative honouring the Girl Scouts of the United States and their founder. Domfil catalogues the stamp as 948.23 under «Girl Guides» / Escultismo femenino, motif Juliette Gordon Low.
The design combines a portrait of Juliette Gordon Low (1860–1927) with Girl Scout emblem elements. Designers William K. Shrage and Ward Beeket; portrait and emblem engraved by G. A. Gonderson, lettering and numerals by J. S. Edmundson. Printed in recess by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in panes of 50, line perforation 11 × 10½, size about 40 × 25 mm. SOSOW records a print run of 63,834,000. Catalogue cross-references: Scott US 974, Michel US 587, Yvert US 525, Stanley Gibbons US 971 (Domfil also cites SG 761 in the Spanish listing).
Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912 after meeting Baden-Powell and seeing the Guide movement in Britain. This is therefore a pure Guides/Girl Scouts-on-Stamps commemorative: national recognition of the founder and the organisation on a mainstream U.S. postage stamp. A commercial perfin on Scott 974 is shown only as optional related material, not as a separate catalog piece.
ATA 1964 recalls that Juliette Low founded her first U.S. Girl Scout troop in Savannah, Georgia, on 12 March 1912, as a friend of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell and a frequent visitor to their home in England. It reports about 60 million copies of the 1948 3¢ stamp printed in sheets of 50 (order of magnitude consistent with the large commemorative run).