3rd Pan-Arab Scout Jamboree

Syria issued two airmail commemoratives at Damascus on 31 August 1958 for the third Pan-Arab Scout Jamboree. Domfil catalogues them as 958.7/8 and prices the imperforate set as a separate line beneath.

Both values carry the same design — two Scouts pitching a tent, the United Arab Republic Scout emblem at the upper left with AIR MAIL and the dates 1958 and 1378 beneath it, and the legend IIIrd BOYSCOUTS PAN-ARAB JAMBOREE 1958 along the foot — the 35 piastres in brown and the 40 piastres in light blue. The State Printing Office produced them by typography, comb perforation 12. SOSOW notes 1,500 sets, a figure that would make this one of the scarcest issues of the decade if it refers to the whole printing rather than to a presentation quantity.

The stamps carry Michel and Scott numbers under the United Arab Republic — Syria had joined Egypt in the union that February — while Yvert and Stanley Gibbons keep them under Syria. The references are Scott SY-UA C4–C5, Michel SY-UA 7–8, Yvert SY PA137–PA138 and Stanley Gibbons SY 657–658.

The pair also exists imperforate. Two varieties are recorded on the imperforate 35 piastres — a dot in the bottom of the B of JAMBOREE, and a dot above and right of the p in 35p.