Thursday 27 September 2012

Slaying the Nazi Dragon

The Netherlands Dragon Prevails.

A sub-set to my dragon collection is Dragon Slaying. Generally St George is depicted slaying said beastie, but often the motif was used for different purposes. Take this amazing block of 4 for instance. It is a WWII liberation stamp printed in 1945. The dragon in this image represents the Nazis. The lion of the Netherlands is slaying the oppressor...
     It is interesting to note that during the design phase of this stamp, the title was altered to suggest the stamp was a depiction of the Lion of Netherlands slaying tuberculosis, which takes the form of the dragon. This was to ensure the Nazi's didn't twig to the significance of the image. But by the time the stamp was released the Netherlands had been liberated so the TB reference was removed.
     It is always nice to have postally used examples of stamps. Recently I picked up a nice cover with four copies of this stamp affixed. I think it is a beauty...
     This letter was posted on the 13th of December just a couple of months after the stamp was released. Anyone else have any examples of this stamp postally used?

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