Happy Birthday Hans Christian Andersen, born 2nd April 1805 – author of The Steadfast Tin Soldier.
Andersen also wrote about the Danish independence battles of 1864. In 1864-66, Denmark lost Schleswig-Holstein to the Prussians under the reign of King Christian IX.
Andersen is mentioned in Tom Buk-Swienty ‘s 1864: The Forgotten War that Shaped Modern Europe, the book which inspired the Danish TV series 1864 on the 150th anniversary back in 2014.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen
A beautiful but pricy 54mm gloss version from Tradition of London
There is more background about this curious story here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Steadfast_Tin_Soldier
I have one Steadfast Tin Soldier in my collection – about 30-40mm high – from the Prince August casting mould https://shop.princeaugust.ie/pa111-the-brave-tin-soldier-mould/
There are many interesting illustrated copies of this story – Pinterest is a great source of such varied illustrations. https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2016/06/04/amphibious-landings-toy-soldier-style/
And to wish Hans Christian Andersen a Happy Birthday, here is that earworm of a tune from the 1955 Danny Kaye film: https://youtu.be/KJzwC_8f6nA
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, 2 April 2021
Man of Tin blog 