Singapore: Mascots (2020)

Maxicard:

[News] News and New Issues of July

After I already published two posts about news this month, not much more is to be published now, but here are still some more news.

• Rupert Bear turns 100 this year and Guernsey and the United Kingdom have/will issue(d) stamps. The Isle of Man has now also issued a set of five 50p coins for the anniversary, so a set of stamps might follow as well. Rupert appeared for the first time in November 1920, which means there is still enough time to announce a set of stamps. Jersey might also issue one, but only time will tell. I have still not decided which of the sets I will add to my collection. The pictures for the British set will most likely be available soon.
• Spain recently issued a stamp about the Bibliobus, a bus used as library. The stamp is printed like a small book and inside some famous books are mentioned including some children's books, however I will most likely not add this one to my collection.
• I already mentioned this one in the last post, but again: the image for the French Raving Rabbids stamp for September is available at least since the 12th July. I really like that one!
• Singapore resumed its stamp programme and the first set that will be issued will be the Mascots on 3rd August. 
• In the new edition of Die Lupe the images for the Swiss Globi stamps were shown. The two stamps show the covers of the most recent non-fictions with the character. Globi already appeared on a Swiss stamp in 1997. These two new stamps will be issued in September and can already be pre-ordered in the Swiss Post online shop.

The New Issues of this month are the Raving Rabbids booklet from France, the Open-air Bath Witten pair from Germany with the face of Spongebob Squarepants, the Rupert Bear set from Guernsey and the Bugs Bunny sheet from the USA. Unfortunately the Bugs Bunny sheet is still not available in the USPS eBay store.

To my own collection I added this month a maxicard about the Calabash Brothers from China (still looking for the complete set), the Open-air Bath Witten pair from Germany in mint condition, on a card and as First Day Sheet, the German stamp about Baron Munchhausen on a cover and one more Italian Donald Duck stamp with a new special Disney postmark.

If I missed any news or new issues please post a comment!

USA: Bugs Bunny (2020)

On a matching Card:

Used on a Card with Special Postmark:

France: Raving Rabbids - Booklet (2020)

With Special Postmark:

Guernsey: Centenary of Rupert Bear (2020)

[News] Bugs Bunny at last

The images of the Bugs Bunny stamps can finally be seen on the Internet, so it is time to take a closer look at this set. 

It was on 23rd June that I first read that Bugs Bunny stamps will be issued in the USA soon. Back then it was announced that ten stamps will be issued on 27th July for the 80th anniversary of Bugs Bunny's screen debut in a sheet of twenty stamps, so each stamp twice. Also the stamps were announced as Forever stamps and that they will each show "a costumed Bugs Bunny in some of his most memorable getups", but no designs were shown. As the stamps were however became available for pre-order on 29th June, I expected that the designs would be shown then, but all we got was this image. Like I already wrote here, who actually buys stamps you can not see yet?

On 2nd July the designs were described as follows:

On the first row of stamps Bugs appears as a barber with white smock and pointy scissors; achieves ‘airness’ on the brink of a slam-dunk in his basketball jersey; is debonair in beret, ascot, smoking jacket, and shades as a screen idol in his Hollywood digs; jokes it up as a jester in bright green garb and fool’s cap; and does a diva turn as an operatic Brunhilde in blonde braids and winged helmet. 

On the second row of stamps, Bugs is a mermaid in a curly 1940s up-do; is classically composed in white tie and tails at the piano; heroically poses as the carrot-powered Super-Rabbit with blue suit and red cape; warms up to pitch a big-league ballgame; and helps save the planet as a World War II U.S. Army staff sergeant in combat uniform with an American-flag backdrop.

But still the actual designs were awaited and it took until the 17th July to get more news. In the meantime the design of the French Raving Rabbids planned for September became already available, but USPS seems to want to keep us on the rack. From now on howeverindividual designs will be revealed from day to day. The USPS currently shows these three stamps on their website. Images of the special postmarks in contrary to this became already available. Unfortunately both have the same design, just one is black and white while the other has a bit of colour.

However they seem to have made a mistake. While browsing the website of USPS I actually discovered the latest edition of the Philatelic, issued on 16th July, which already shows the complete sheet. You can now also already see it on Gulfmann Stamps World here. The Philatelic also lists the products that will be available for this issue: a Press Sheet, a set of FDCs with the normal postmark and a set of FDCs with the colour postmark, so not much this time. For everyone who is interested a virtual stamp dedication ceremony will be hold on 27th July on Facebook and Twitter. To see it on Facebook you apparently need a registration, but for Twitter not.

I honestly like these stamps. The theme is nice and also the designs are much better than I feared, but actually it is a real catch penny issue most likely only intended to generate as much money as possible. Why on earth would you otherwise celebrate an 80th anniversary? I am not sure anymore, but I think that I read a few months ago that only jubilees like 50, 100, 150 and so on would be commemorated on US stamps and thus for example not the 75th anniversary of the End of World War II. But you see, Bugs Bunny seems to be more important than the victory over Fascism or more precisely the victory over Fascism can only be celebrated with Bugs Bunny as a World War II U.S. Army staff sergeant in combat uniform. Also why does the sheet has to include all stamps twice and not once or even better why not design twenty stamps if you want to have sheets of twenty? Personally I also hate that designs are hold back for such a long time. But on the other side I can also understand that USPS needs the money, just check on the Internet why. Due to that I will turn blind eye to this criticism and will try to get the sheet for my collection. Unfortunately the USPS webshop only delivers to the USA, so it is not possible to preorder them from outside the country (at least I do not know how), but they have an eBay shop which can also be used by collectors from other countries. Hopefully the stamps and the other products will not be sold out before they become available there.

Just as a reminder, Bugs Bunny and some other Looney Tunes characters already appeared on US stamps between 1997 and 2001: Bugs Bunny in 1997, Tweety and Sylvester in 1998, Daffy Duck in 1999, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote in 2000 and Porky Pig in 2001, all single stamps in sheets of ten. Also there were stamps in France and a strange set from Albania. To commemorate the 80th anniversary of Bugs Bunny furthermore Australia Post issued a set of personalised stamps.

[News] More News

In the last few days I collected so many news about childhood hero stamps that I did not want to wait until the end of the month to present them to you. So here they are.

Let's start with Germany. Like I wrote the last time, yesterday a setenant pair about the Open-air Bath Witten was issued and on the right stamp there is a towel with Spongebob's face. I added the stamps to my collection yesterday and uploaded them here. See for yourself and decide if you want them in your collection. In the new postfrisch magazine of the Deutsche Post, Number 4/2020, also the results of "Europas schönste Briefmarke 2018" (Europa's most beautiful stamp of 2018) are presented. The first place goes to Croatia, but the German 70ct Snoopy stamp got the second place. Nice news, but I am not sure how representative the selection was. The contest is organised by a German stamp magazine and there was only a choice between twelve stamps. Nonetheless that was also one of my personal favourites of that year. 

The last time I complained that the Portuguese super hero stamps disappeared from the stamp programme. Yesterday I wanted to take another look, but this time I was not even able to find the programme anymore. However I was looking a bit through the blog O Filatelista and discovered this post about special postmarks in June. One of them deals with Wonder Woman. Looking more through the blog I saw similar postmarks for Flash, Superman, Batman and the already mentioned Harley Quinn and Joker. Like some Google searches revealed there were actually already meuselo sets about Flash, Batman and Superman as well (Wonder Woman most likely too, but so far I saw no pictures). So it seems that there were actually such sets issued about all six characters and WOPA (on which my last statement was based) just does not list/sell them. As it was hard enough to find the pictures, I assume it will be even harder to get the stamps. So far I could not find them neither on WOPA nor the Portuguese post website and unless that changes I will definitely not consider these stamps for my collection, mainly also because I do not collect personalised stamps anyway and do not know how to get these easily. Still hoping that there might be actual stamps later this year!

From Finland comes in September a set I forgot to mention the last time. Tatu and Patu will make a (their first?) philatelic appearance. You can see those on the website of the Finnish Postcrossing Friends. Still not sure if I want them, but they look nice and "technical tricks" (teknisiä kikkoja) makes me curious. 

Also in September Miffy will appear on a new Dutch "Kinderpostzegels" set for her 65th anniversary. This time there will however be only five stamps in the sheet. As I was planning to add a Miffy stamp set to my collection anyway, I will get these for my collection for sure. 

This really seems to be a year for rabbits and bunnies. The most interesting news of the last days come from France. The Lapins crétins (Raving Rabbids) by Ubisoft will appear for the first time on stamps. Just like the Asterix issue of last year, there will be a booklet of twelve stamps issued this month and a single(?) stamp in September. The pictures for the July issues can already be seen online. Although I really like these stamps, I am also a bit disappointed, as I was hoping for a 50 years Barbapappa issue this year. Also I do not know, why the Raving Rabbids will make an appearance now, as next year they turn 15.  

Meanwhile the US Bugs Bunny stamps can now be preordered, but the images are still not available. Like, who buys stamps you can not see yet?

I will do the next big update this time really at the end of the month (unless I can not wait...), but if there are news about Bugs Bunny I might post earlier.

Germany: Open-air Bath Witten (2020)

Far on the right side of the right stamp there is a towel with the face of Spongebob Squarepants.

On a matching Cards, one with Special Postmark:

First Day Sheet:

[News] New Issues and Information of May and June

In May and June some new stamps about childhood heroes were issued and news about upcoming stamps became available, which I want to present to you in this post. So far I have only one of these stamps in my collection and thus I do not want to show pictures of them here, but I am sure whoever reads this will find the pictures easily online. If everything goes as planned I will publish news posts like this from now on at the end of every month.

• The first news is actually still from April. The Singapore Mascot stamps planned for the 29th April were postponed to an unannounced date due to Covid-19. Pictures of the five stamps are however already available. The stamps will show Nila, Singa, Sharity, Water Wally and Captain Green. Nila, the mascot of the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, already appeared on at least 5 stamps in that year, but as I do not consider any sport event mascots for my collection they are not shown here. However you can see three of them here, here and here. Singa also already made a philatelic appearance in 1988. For the other three mascots it will be the first time on a stamp.

• The only stamp of these two months that I already have is the German stamp about Baron Munchhausen. Like all new German stamps it got an article in the postfrisch magazine of the Deutsche Post, Number 3/2020 for this one. That version of the magazine also includes a short article about the presentation of the Sesame Street stamp in March, which says that enough of these stamps were printed that "every child in Germany can get circa five of them" (well, I got more...), so 55million in total. However I am not sure if they only mean the gummed version or gummed and self-adhesive or how the stamp products are included in this number, but interestingly the gummed version and some of the stamp products are not available in their online shop anymore (post offices might still have some). In the last years I rarely noticed that any German stamp was actually sold out. I assume that this does not happen very often!

• Unlike in other years Japan so far issued very few childhood hero stamps in 2020. The first issue is made up of twenty stamps about Doraemon called "Doraemon of Comics" and "Travel". It was issued on 20th May. 

• Probably my favourite childhood hero stamp set of May and June comes from China. On 1st June a set of six was issued about the Calabash Brothers. Although I do not know the cartoon myself, the stamps remind me of the Monkey King stamps of 2014, which I really enjoyed back then. At the moment I am waiting for a maxicard to arrive, but I am still missing for the complete set. 

• On 9th June 1870 Charles Dickens died. For this anniversary two postal administrations, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Jersey, so far issued stamps. While for many others the books of Charles Dickens are for sure part of their childhood, I would actually only consider A Christmas Carol as such and do not collect general Dickens stamps. Hence I am not looking for the stamp from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which shows a portrait of Dickens. The set from Jersey on the other side includes wonderful illustrations of eight stories by Dickens including A Christmas Carol. However I am also not looking for that set, as I am just interested in one of the eight stamps and in that case it is just too expensive. But if you like Charles Dickens I can really recommend this set to you. 

• On 16th June San Marino issued a set about the Birth Centenary of Gianni Rodari. I do not know this author, but for others it might be interesting. The set is made up of two stamps.

• Actually just a very small appearance, but also the most surprising one: Spongebob Squarepants will appear on a German stamp. On 2nd July a setenant pair about the Open-air Bath Witten will be issued and on the right stamp there is a towel with Spongebob's face. If I would not be from Germany I would probably not consider this stamp for my collection, as the appearance is just two small, but as I can easily get this stamp at the post office, I will add it next week. I really hope that in a future Spongebob will get a real stamp issue (maybe as part of the series "Helden der Kindheit" or in the USA). So far there was only a set of prepaid postcards by USPS. 

• Rupert the Bear turns 100 this year and Guernsey (July) and Royal Mail (September) will celebrate with stamps. The images of the Guernsey set and souvenir sheet became available recently. I am still not sure how to deal with these stamps. I do not consider Rupert the Bear as a hero of my childhood, but as I do not have any of the older issues, I think about adding one of these sets to my collection, but most likely only one. I guess I will wait to see the images of the British stamps and decide then, but the stamps from Guernsey I actually like. They feature some of the characters from the stories, have a nice yellow background and will probably be cheaper than the British set.

• One of the stamp sets I was looking forward for the most this year was a set about Superheroes from Portugal. When I checked their issue programme the last time, it however unfortunately disappeared. On the other side there were however two sets of four personalised stamps ("meuselos") each about Harley Quinn and the Joker issued in late March. The designs suggested that there might be sets planned for Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman as well, but at this moment no such issues appeared (maybe due to Covid-19?). Only the future can tell if there will be four more of these sets with personalised stamps or a real stamp set about the actual heroes. I really hope for a real stamp set, as I do not collect personalised stamps and actually like the designs so far. 

• Best and latest news at the end: just yesterday I read that USPS will issue a set of ten stamps celebrating Bugs Bunny's 80th birthday. The stamps are announced for the 27th July and images are not yet available. Bugs Bunny already appeared on a US stamp in 1997 (still missing) as well as on French (still missing) and Albanian (not interested) stamps. For the 80th birthday the Australian Post also issued a set of personalised stamps, which are actually quite nice for the thematic collector, but which I am not looking for, as I do not collect personalised stamps. Next month more news on this one will follow for sure!

So this rounds up the news for May and June. If the Bugs Bunny stamps will be shown in the next days I might show them already, but probably the next news will just follow in late July.

So issued in May and June were these stamps:
(The cursive ones are issues I just list for completeness, but which I am not really interested in for my own collection.)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Charles Dickens (one stamp)
China: Calabash Brothers (six stamps)
Germany: 300th Birthday of Baron Munchhausen (one stamp)
Japan: Doraemon (two sheets, twenty stamps in total)
Jersey: Charles Dickens (eight stamps)
San Marino: Birth Centenary of Gianni Rodari (two stamps)

To my collection I added during these two months the stamp about Baron Munchhausen with additional products and one Finnish Moomin stamp of 2007 (click here).

If I missed any news or new issues please post a comment!

[Incomplete] China: Calabash Brothers (2020)

Maxicard:

Germany: Baron Munchhausen (2020)

On matching Cards with Special Postmarks:

First Day Sheet:

Used on a Cover:

[News] Baron Munchhausen Stamp from Germany

The next German childhood hero stamp will be issued on 7th May. This time it shows Baron Munchhausen. Like usual two First Day Special Postmarks for Bonn and Berlin and a First Day Sheet will be available. For this stamp also an official FDC ("Jubiläumsbrief"), a "Klappkarte" and a 20€ silver coin with additional products will be produced. 

Actually also two special postmarks from Bodenwerder were announced. At first it was said that the events for the postmarks were cancelled, but that the postmarks would still be available from the postmarking centre. Now however the postmarks were also cancelled.

Source: Stempel & Informationen 08/2020 and 09/2020

EDIT:
Stempel & Informationen 11/2020 includes the right postmark again. Only the word "Festakt" was removed.

Germany: Sesame Street (2020)

For this stamp issue I created what is probably one of the most precious things in my entire collection: on a Sesame Street card with the US stamps of 2019 and special postmark I also put the German stamp and got a special postmark for that one as well.

On matching Cards with Special Postmarks:

Prepaid Cover:

First Day Sheet:

"Erinnerungsblatt":

"Klappkarte":

"Übergabekarte":

Used on a Card:

Postcards: issued by the German Post: