USA: Star Wars Droids (2021)

On matching Cards:

FDCs:

Used on a Card with Special Postmark:

Used on Covers with Special Postmarks:

Used on Cards:

[News] News of April

Unlike the last months April was a month full of news. Here they are:

• This week finally the new Star Wars Droids stamps of USPS will be issued. Perfectly in time for Star Wars Day you can join the virtual dedication cerenomy on Facebook and Twitter. It will take place on Tuesday, May the 4th, 11 am EST. More information you can find here.
• Armenia issued a stamp about the Cartoon Kikos on 21st April. You can buy it on WOPA.
• On 25th May Monaco will issue four single stamps about author anniversaries. One of them deals with the 400th birth anniversary of Jean de la Fontaine and shows a portrait of the author next to an illustration of the fable The Fox and the Crow.
• The first image of the Czech stamp about Kater Mikesch became available. However it is just an image of a single stamp, while a souvenir sheet was promised. The image of the whole sheet will most likely be available by the end of May. 
• In last month's news I mentioned the "Bloc Saint-Exupéry (spécial salon)" and a "Carnet 'Le Petit Prince 75 ans'" planned in France in June. The images of the Carnet are now available and it is indeed a booklet of twelve stamps. Issue date is the 21st June.
• In January I wrote about an issue from Alderney that was listed as TBC online, but as Lorax in the printed bulletin. The issue was apparently changed and is now listed as Secret Garden online.
• Finland revealed its stamp programme of the rest of the year and unfortunately it does not include a new Moomin set. 
• Poland already revealed its stamp programme for 2022, which includes an issue about Kajko and Kokosz.
• The German stamp programme for 2022 was revealed months ago and now there is the first update. Originally it included Benjamin Blümchen and the Smurfs as Helden der Kindheit and Pettson and Findus as single stamp. Now Benjamin Blümchen is listed as single stamp and Pettson and Findus are now probably included in the Helden der Kindheit. I like this change, as the single stamp is usually issued in March, while the Helden der Kindheit are just issued in December, so nine months less to wait for Benjamin Blümchen, my most anticipated stamp for 2022 at this point.

The News Issues of April 2021 were Kikos from Armenia, the single stamp about The Little Prince from France and Classic Science Fiction from the United Kingdom.

My only New Addition in my collection of Childhood Heroes on Stamps this month was The Little Prince in mint condition. I also got the Classic Science Fiction, but decided to include them in my general collection and not in this topical collection.

France: 75 years Publication of The Little Prince in France (2021)

[News] News of March

What happened to March? I can not believe that the month flew by so fast, but again this was a month without much news. Here they are:

• The issue date for the Star Wars Droids stamps from USPS was revealed to be the 4th May, Star Wars Day. Really looking forward to this issue!
• Just shown this month, but already issued were the King Arthur stamps from the United Kingdom. Ten stamps were issued that all show different scenes from the Arthurian Legend. The designs are nice and modern, but I am not sure yet if I want to add the whole set to my collection.
• You can now also find the images of Royal Mail's Classic Science Fiction set online (e.g. Commonwealth Stamps Opinion or British First Day Covers). The featured works are Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, Brave New World by Aldous Huyley, Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke and Shikasta by Doris Lessing. Again the stamps are nicely designed, but in my opinion there should have been more stamps in this set, as some famous works are unfortunately missing. Unfortunately also due to high face values the set is rather expensive.
• Spain's most recent issue in the series Graphic Humour shows an illustration of Little Red Riding Hood by Mikel Urmeneta. It is a souvenir sheet and was already issued.
• The April edition of the French Philinfo includes a slightly updated issue programme for the first half of 2021. Beside the single issue about the Little Prince planned for April, it now also includes a "Bloc Saint-Exupéry (spécial salon)" and a "Carnet 'Le Petit Prince 75 ans'" in June. The "carnet" should be such a booklet of twelve stamps like it had been issued for Asterix in 2019 and the Raving Rabbids in 2020. About the other issue I am not sure what it will be. I will add both to the list above as soon as I have seen images.

The new issues of March 2021 are the Sendung mit der Maus from Germany, Jean de la Fontaine from Hungary, Little Red Riding Hood from Spain and King Arthur from the United Kingdom.

To my own collection I only added during this month the new issue from Germany in mint condition, as First Day Sheet and Erinnerungsblatt and on matching cards with special postmarks.

[News] News of February

During February I did not see much news. Maybe it was because I was too busy and overlooked something or because not much was published. This is everything I found:

• The image of the French stamp about the Little Prince that will be issued in April became available. It is a single stamp and as far as I can see it is the first time that this particular illustration appears on a stamp. But I might be wrong. Just recently I actually discovered that there was a Little Prince stamp in Israel in the 1990s.
• The popular German children's TV show Die Sendung mit der Maus turns 50 this year and is honoured with a stamp. This stamp was actually featured in yesterday's episode. If you speak German this is interesting to see, as it is shown how the stamp is produced. Also this is one of so far five stamps with the new Matrixcode, which enables a rudimentary tracking function and also gives information about the motive.
• I am now on Twitter (@dustin15collect). So far I have not posted much, but you can see the upcoming Little Prince and Star Wars stamps there. Also if you did not know, I am on Instagram as well (@dustin15_collections), where I often show things from my collection.

Only new issue of February were the Mother Hulda stamps from Germany.

To my own collection I added this month Mother Hulda in mint condition and on matching cards as well as the Open-air Bath stamp of last year on a matching Spongebob postcard. As today is already the 1st March, I was able to buy the stamp about the Sendung mit der Maus in mint condition, on a First Day Sheet and in an Erinnerungsblatt. Matching cards I will prepare tomorrow to get the special postmarks. I like this stamp and I guess it will be popular also among non-collectors.

Germany: 50 years Sendung mit der Maus (2021)

On matching Cards with Special Postmarks:

First Day Sheet:

"Erinnerungsblatt" (includes also the stamp from 1998):

Used on Cover with Special Postmark:

Germany: Welfare - Mother Hulda (2021)

On matching Cards with Special Postmarks:

Self-adhesive Version from Coil:

Used on Cover with Special Postmark:

[News] News of January

I love that time of the year, when the postal administrations publish their stamp plans for the next/new year. One month ago I wrote that for 2021 nine countries already announced 15 issues about Childhood Heroes on Stamps. Now we are at 22 issues from 14 countries. I am sure many more will follow, but for the moment these are the news for January:

• The first new information still regards 2020. Like it was common in recent years Armenia issued many new stamps in the last days of the year. Among them issued on 24th December was one about the cartoon "In blue sea, in white foam...". Personally I am not interested, but for everyone who is it become available on WOPA early this year for €0.30.
• On 5th January Royal Mail published its stamp plan for 2021. While I was not really interested in the stamps of 2020, this year includes some interesting issues. For a collection of chilhood hero stamps the most interesting issues should be King Arthur in March and Dennis and Gnasher in July, but personally I am most looking forward to Classic Science Fiction in April. I wonder which stories they will choose.
• Bulgaria will join France and Hungary with a stamp about Jean de la Fontaine for his 400th birth anniversary. A souvenir sheet is planned for July.
• The programme of New Zealand Post just became available on Friday, but it includes a very interesting issue. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first Lord of the Rings movie, which will be honoured with an issue in June. After four sets about the original movies, three about the Hobbit and one souvenir sheet showing the Ring, this will be New Zealand's ninth philatelic trip to Middle Earth (if I did not overlook an issue).
• The German stamp themes for 2021 were published in December 2019 (yes, 2019), the plan with issue dates and face values is available since December and early this year the images for the January to March issues became available. These include Mother Hulda and Die Sendung mit der Maus. I really like both issues, although the Maus will get a "Matrixcode". I will write more about that on either with the News of February or March.
• The stamp programme of Guernsey Post on their website still has an TBC issue for Alderney in June. The printed version however reveals that this issue with commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Lorax. Sounds interesting, but I am still not sure about the connection between Dr Seuss and Guernsey.
• The biggest announcement of the month comes from the USA. Surprisingly they will issue a set of ten stamps about Star Wars Droids in spring to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lucasfilm and their commitment to STEM learning. Well, I love that issue! Currently this might actually be my favourite issue to look forward to this year. I think the selection the wonderful and it is great to see newer characters like Solo's L3-37, Rebels' Chopper and Mandalorian's IG-11 beside obvious choices like R2-D2, C-3PO and BB-8. The only thing that might have been even better in my opinion, would have benn to have either R2-D2 or C-3PO in Clone Wars style.
• Italy plans for this year a stamp about "Mafalda". I really hope that they mean the comic, although I first did not saw a connection between Quino and Italy. Although a bit of research revealed that there is one. During the time of the military dictatorship in Argentina, Quino left his homeland and lived in exile in Milan. This exile began 45 years ago in 1976 and as Quino died last year, I think there are enough reasons for a Mafalda stamp.

Many news this month, but not many new issues. January 2021 only saw the issuance of the Strong Women in Comics from Belgium and the Moomins from Japan.

Two of the twenty Moomin stamps I have already added to my collection with special postmarks on matching stamps. Also this month I got the last two US Harry Potter stamps on a cover and the Portuguese Justice League stamps in mint condition.

Belgium: Strong Women in Comics (2021)

Japan: Moomins (2021)

Not needed in mint condition.

On matching Cards with Special Postmarks: