In the Spring of 1996 ArGe Pfadfinder, the German Scout stamp club, invited the Scout collectors of Europe
to bring their Scout Stamp displays for a special three day weekend exhibition. They held the show, which
they named EuroScout, in Grafing near Munich. The response was so positive and the event was such a success
that the attending Austrians offered to host a second EuroScout two years later. And so was started a biannual
event that continues today, each show in a different European city sponsored by the local Scout stamp collectors club.
2010 Chelmsford, UK
EuroScout is an international show of Scout and Guide stamps, postal documents and philatelic
literature and includes related postcards and paper ephemera and memorabilia. Anyone can arrange to display
their exhibit by notifying the organizing Scout stamp club. Admission is free and open to the public. Swapping
of stamps, covers, ideas and opinions is encouraged. Bring your new covers to mail with the EuroScout cancel. Many
attendees wear their Scout uniform with the host country's new EuroScout commemorative neckerchief. Usually, a
special program including a city tour is planned for your spouse. A celebration dinner for all is normally held on
Saturday evening. So if you want to see and learn about some of the finest items of Scout Philately and have the
opportunity to meet with the collectors themselves, this is your chance. Exhibitors are more than willing to extol
the virtues of their presentations to anyone who is interested.
EuroScout and the Birth of IFSCO
At EuroScout 1998 in Schwanberg, Austria, representatives from each of the attending Scout stamp
clubs were invited to Limberg Castle. There we held what has become known as the "Limberg-Talks";
a series of candid and decisive discussions about establishing an international organization of scout stamp collector
clubs. Gottfried Steinmann, who was the driving force at the talks, had addressed North American collectors a year
earlier at Pacific '97 in San Francisco, California on these ideas. Attendees of the Limberg-Talks returned
to their individual Scout stamp clubs to promote the concept of creating such an organization. Two years later
at EuroScout 2000 in Comacchio, Italy, IFSCO (International Federation of Scout & Guide Stamps Collecting Organizations)
was founded! Meetings of the IFSCO delegates have been held every two years at the EuroScout exhibition. Click
to learn more about IFSCO.
