It was not until 1st August 1957 that the second set of commemorative stamps were issued during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. This was four years after the previous coronation set, and were issued to commemorate the World Scout Jubilee Jamboree. The Jamboree was held in Sutton Park, and was one of the biggest events ever held in Sutton Coldfield and involved scouts from 85 countries converging on the park to celebrate 50 years of scouting and the centenary of Lord Baden Powell’s birth.
The event was attended by both the Queen and the Prime minister of the time, Harold Macmillan. Because it was an international event hosted by Britain, it was deemed worthy enough to issue a set of commemorative stamps. Once again they followed the pattern of postal rate colours, being as they were 2 1/2d Red (Scout hitch and Rolling hitch), 4d Blue (“Scouts coming to Britain.”) and 1s 3d Green (Globe with Compass.).
This was an interesting issue because special rolls of stamps were produced, designed to service first day covers automatically. They were produced from different cylinders and printed on continuous reels of paper. The cylinders bore 126 impressions in 21 rows of six. The cylinders were numbered J1 for the 2 1/2d and 4d and J2 for the 1s 3d. (Technical details quoted from Gibbons GB Specialised catalogue Vol 3.) The reels were cut so as to provide single rolls of 4800 stamps, numbered 1-6. Interestingly, because of the speedy printing methods, numerous minor flaws have been reported on these stamps.
These rolls were available for sale on request at the London Chief Office, presumably for stamp dealers and other business individuals wishing to cash in on the Jubilee celebrations. This was the first time that coil stamps were available in an intact form, and drew much interest from stamp collectors wishing to add something unique to their collection. At the time many people collected stamps and mainstream collectors would buy whole sheets of stamps for their collection. In modern times this would cost a small fortune, but when you consider that the jubilee issue was the first series of commemorative stamps released for over 4 years, it does seem reasonable!
Official records do show that some collectors did buy the roll of 4800 stamps, although many collectors did not find it reasonable due to the huge cost. Technically the stamps would always be useable or exchangeable at post offices, so a few people brought them as an investment. Nobody could be sure if they would increase much in value, but they could guarantee that they will never decrease in value.
The Post Office finally relented to the feedback they were getting from philatelic customers and rolls of 4800 were rewound into smaller rolls of 480 stamps for the 2 1/2d and 4d, and rolls of 240 for the 1s3d.
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