Pioneers of the ČSM — 3 Kčs
Piece details
Identity
- Piece codeStamp code YYYY.ENT.SS-PP — series code plus stamp order (e.g. 1900.CGH.01-02).
1952.CSK.01-03- SeriesThe set this stamp belongs to.
- International Children's Day — Pioneers of the ČSM
1952.CSK.01· piece 3 of 3 - EntityPostal authority that issued the stamps (country, territory, or historical entity).
Czechoslovakia (CSK)- Year / date
- 1952-05-31
- Face valueDenomination on the stamp; +n is a charity surcharge when present.
- 3 Kčs
- Format
- Stamp
- TypeIssue kind. Charity issue = postage + voluntary surcharge (e.g. 6+4), not an overprint.
- Commemorative
- Colors
- Brown-carmine
- CollectionIn collection if you have it; Purchased if it is bought but not yet received (do not buy again); Wanted otherwise.
- ✓ In collection
Production
- PerforationsHole gauge between stamps (e.g. 12, 13½). Higher ≈ finer.
- Line 12½
- Printing
- Recess
- Size
- 33 × 27 mm
Catalog numbers
- DomfilDomfil thematic catalog number (scouting).
- 952.33
- ScottScott catalog number (Americas).
- CS 525
- MichelMichel catalog number (Europe / DE).
- CS 733
- YvertYvert & Tellier catalog number (FR).
- CS 645
- Stanley GibbonsStanley Gibbons catalog number (UK / Commonwealth).
- CS 701
Notes
Three Pioneers over a book with a youth leader, inscribed PIONÝŘI DRUHÁ SMĚNA ČSM. Domfil 952.33 «Exploradores / Scouts». AFA CS 582, POF 657. Print run 3,680,000.
Series history
Czechoslovakia issued three commemoratives on 31 May 1952, the eve of International Children's Day. Domfil catalogues the set as 952.31/33 under «Día Internacional de la Infancia», mapping those numbers to Michel 731/733, Scott 523/525 and Yvert 643/645, and itemises the top value as «Exploradores / Scouts».
The 1.50 Kčs sepia and the 2 Kčs dark blue-green share a single design by Milada Kazdová, engraved by Ladislav Jirka: a small child carried on the shoulders of an older boy in Pioneer neckerchief, with two girls alongside and a village behind, above the slogan ZA MÍR A ŠŤASTNOU BUDOUCNOST VŠECH DĚTÍ SVĚTA — «for peace and a happy future for all the children of the world». The 3 Kčs brown-carmine, also drawn by Kazdová but engraved by Jaroslav Goldschmied, is the Scout-theme value: three Pioneers gathered over a book with an older youth leader, inscribed PIONÝŘI DRUHÁ SMĚNA ČSM — «Pioneers, the second echelon of the Czechoslovak Youth Union», the formula under which the Pioneer organisation operated as the junior branch of the ČSM after the independent Junák Scout association was absorbed in 1950.
All three are recess-printed, 33 × 27 mm, line perforation 12½. Print runs were 3,150,000 for the 1.50 Kčs and 3,680,000 for the 3 Kčs, but only 280,000 for the 2 Kčs, which makes the middle value by far the hardest of the three to find. Beyond the catalogues above the set is listed as Stanley Gibbons CS 699–701, AFA CS 580–582 and, in the Czech specialised catalogue, POF 655–657. The three values are catalogued here in rising face-value order.