I recently came across two sets of stamps dedicated to German comics pioneer Wilhelm Busch. I already knew, of course, of the numerous issues that the German post office made about this author. They started with what must be the oldest set in my collection, two little stamps from 1958, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Busch’s death, and ending in an issue from 2015 on the 150th anniversary of his most famous creation, Max und Moritz.
In 2008 the neighboring country of Liechtenstein did their own issue on the centenary of Busch’s death, with eight stamps featuring his most famous creations. The stamps have a nice silver finish in the lettering, but I can’t say I’m over the moon about the bland PhotoShop colouring. I understand the aim was to emulate the watercolours that were added to the illustrations, but this just looks lousy.
I’m more enthralled with this other little set of three sheetlets, each telling a short Max Und Moritz story in four images, complete with rhyming couplets in German and English. They are an issue from the Penrhyn Atoll, which is part of the Northern Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean, smack on the official date line.
I guess those are the most exotic in my albums, or at least they’ve traveled the longest distance. And in these the colouring is spot on. Incidentally, they were issued in the International Year of the Child, 1979, which also was the year my dad gave me the new Tintin stamp, which started all this madness.
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