Review and Overview of the Beethoven 2020 Stamps

EDIT: Information gathered after I published this post is included in orange.

Like I had promised earlier here is a small overview of the Beethoven stamps that were issued last year.

• Beethoven stamps were issued in Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Post Mostar), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serb Post), Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Faroe Islands, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hungary, Israel, Jersey, Kazakhstan, KEP, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Macau, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Ukraine, Uruguay, Vatican and Vietnam.
• So in total 38+2 postal administrations issued stamps about Beethoven for his 250th birth anniversary. 25+1 of them are from Europa, 9 from Asia and 4+1 from the Americas. Also there were a few agency-produced catch penny issues from Africa, but these can be ignored without loss. 
• There might be more stamps out there. About the issue from Mongolia for example I just learned in February 2021.
• I am not sure if the stamp from Mexico was issued. The Mexican Post announced it on Instagram, but as of now it is still not included in the Colnect catalogue. Nonetheless for everything written below I have included it. The stamp is still (8th April 2021) not included in the Colnect catalogue, but on Mon Blog Timbré you can see a used version on a cover, so it was definitely issued.
• Latvia and Slovakia originally also announced Beethoven stamps, but they were apparently cancelled in the course of the year. 
• The first country with the Beethoven stamp was Germany, where the stamp became available already on 2nd January. As Beethoven was just baptised in December 1770, this stamp was issued nearly a year before the actual anniversary. Apart from the normal gummed stamp there have been also a gummed souvenir sheet and self-adhesive stamps from the coil and a booklet. All however use the same design.

• Counting all the "different" stamps (so counting Germany as one, but for example a souvenir sheet of four different stamps as four) there are 84+3 of them. 
• So on average there are two stamps from every country, but in fact just eight+1 of the 38+2 countries issued more than one stamp. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Romania and Vietnam issued two stamps, Guernsey and Uruguay issued four, Jersey issued seven and Lebanon issued a sheet with 20(!) different stamps.
• Most countries issued sets or single stamps solely dedicated to Beethoven, but Gibraltar, KEP and Moldova all issued one stamp in a bigger set about anniversaries. 
• Unfortunately many of the stamps are not very creative. 20+1 of the 38+2 postal administrations used the famous portrait of Joseph Karl Stieler on at least one of their stamps. Some countries like the Faroe Islands, Germany and Israel reimagined the portrait, but others like Brazil, Hungary and Portugal just used the plain portrait and added country name, face value and a few other words. Many countries however used completely different images and especially in bigger sets like those from Guernsey and Jersey multiple portraits are used. 
• 16+1 of the 38+2 postal administrations used the official logo of the jubilee year on their stamps: BTHVN 2020. 

• As I had already written, Guernsey issued four stamps, but they were not issued at once, but on different dates in the course of the year. This issue format was apparently quite popular, as they are doing the same now of the Royal British Legion this year. When the last stamp was issued, all four became however also available in a combined souvenir sheet. 
• The stamps from Jersey are advertised as "Award-Winning Stamp Issue", as they "were a winning entry in Communication Arts magazine's 61st annual design competition, a prestigious international competition showcasing the best in visual communications."
• The issue from Spain takes the form of a vinyl disc and can actually be listened to. It reproduces Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 performed by the Madrid Festival Orchestra.
• You can read a very nice review of the Israeli stamp on the Israel Stamp Review blog (click here).
• Since the Reformation Jubilee in 2017 I have not tried to collect all the international stamps about any of Big Jubilees, but only got a few selected issues. In my collection for Beethoven I only have the stamps from Austria, France, Germany, Israel, Macau and Portugal, but I still hope to get the ones from Poland and the Vatican later on.
• Of all the Beethoven stamps issued in 2020 my favourite comes from France. It might not be the best designed issue, but I think it is nicely straight forward and decent and on the other hand also much more creative than others and has a great golden touch. 

This was definitely not the deepest dive into history or philately, but I had fun writing this small article. Although it is already March, I still have not seen anything that hints at a Big Jubilee in 2021. Themes for which I have seen at least two announced stamp issues include Dürer, Insulin, Kepler and Stanislaw Lem. Napoleon will get stamps from France, Italy and Saint Helena and both for Napoleon and Dante some more might be announced later on. However I think that there might be something bigger that I have not yet spotted.