Tenth anniversary of the Pioneer organisation

Czechoslovakia issued four commemoratives on 28 March 1959 for the tenth anniversary of its Pioneer organisation, founded in 1949. Domfil catalogues the set as 959.12/15 and every design carries the dates 1949-1959 up one side.

The four show children at their pursuits rather than on parade: a girl holding up a marionette, a boy seated with a map, a girl listening to a radio set, and a girl planting a tree. Jozef Baláž drew all four; Jindřich Schmidt engraved the 30 and 40 haléřů and Ladislav Jirka the 60 and 80. All are photogravure combined with recess, 27 × 44 mm, comb perforation 11¼ × 11¾, with printings between 2.5 and 3.5 million. They stayed valid for postage until 30 September 1993, outliving the state that issued them by four months.

The anniversary being marked is the founding of the Pioneers in April 1949, which came before the formal dissolution of Junák in September 1950 rather than after it: for more than a year the two existed side by side while the Scout organisation was hollowed out from within. Domfil files the set as Scouting on that ground, as it does the other Pioneer anniversaries of the Eastern bloc.

One caution on sources. Domfil gives the third value as 50 haléřů in its facial column, but the stamp reads 60 and every other catalogue agrees, including the illustration on Domfil's own page. Further references are Michel CS 1127–1130, Scott CS 908–911, Yvert CS 1012–1015, Stanley Gibbons CS 1084–1087, AFA CS 972–975 and POF CS 1044–1047.