July 2018 - Sneak Peek

Like many of you, I started collecting stamps from across
the world. That was more than 50 years ago. Childish
thinking likely said I could collect every stamp ever
printed. Within a few years I was specializing. But about five
years ago I realized how much I missed worldwide stamps. So
I started recollecting the world, but this time I was smarter.
I limited my choices. I might focus on the first 200 or 300
stamps of one country. Or perhaps I might pluck a single set,
or just a couple stamps, from the 1930s. Or maybe I’d focus
on a modern group or a long-running annual series. I was
doing what we advise others: collect what you like.
Here is a set I could not resist: Portugal’s Equestrian Seal
of the King, Denis. I just always called it the knight stamp.
Sometimes this is called the Medieval Knight stamp or the
Portuguese Cavalinho (Little Horse) stamp.
I remember when I was a child getting several used versions
of this stamp in the set’s many vivid colors: from dark
and light green to deep purple and vibrant red-orange. What
little kid wouldn’t be drawn to this stamp of a brave knight
in armor and shield astride a galloping fully dressed horse?
Perhaps he’s out to battle a ferocious fire-breathing dragon?
And with sword drawn – as a lefty – no less! (I can find no
evidence that the king was left-handed, so I guess this was the
artist’s prerogative.)
Later I found out that the knight
has a name. He is King Denis, known
as Diniz or Dinis, in Portugal. Denis
(1261-1325) – the Poet King or Farmer
King – was Portugal’s sixth king, reaching
the throne while still a teenager in
1279, but serving more than 46 years
until 1325.
The son of Afonso III, Denis is
credited with improving Portugal’s
economy by strengthening the nation’s
agricultural base and encouraging ship
building, trade fairs and forestry plantations.
He reduced the power of the
nobility and the church. He had been
educated to both French and Castilian
cultural influences and became a competent
poet. He founded the first university
in Portugal — in Lisbon — in 1290. A skilled
negotiator, Denis was able to establish with
Castile a definitive frontier for Portugal.
The handsome set of 16 definitives – No.
761 to 775 in the Scott catalog – was almost entirely issued
in 1953. The 30-cent rose lilac (Scott 763A) was released in
1956. Each stamp has its own color and a unique denomination,
from 5 cents to 50 escudos; no denomination was reprinted
in a different color.
The stamps were produced by lithography in panes of 100
on a 10-by-10 grid by Casa da Moeda. They are perforated
at 12½ and unofficially (because I measured them) are 24
millimeters by 19 millimeters. The workhorse stamps stayed
The King Denis, or Medieval Knight,
stamps were issued in the 1950s, but
not withdrawn from use until the early
1970s. Covers such as this one showing
the stamps’ use in 1965 are common.
on sale for about 20 years and were withdrawn from sale in
groups over four years from 1972 to 1975. The 20-cent, with a
print run of 50.7 million, and the 50-cent, with a run of 33.1
million, are the most common. The smallest run was for the
high value 50 escudo with 180,000.
A 2013 Afinsa specialized catalog for Portugal reports
that because of all the colors and lengthy time of sale – more
were printed when necessary – that there are many varieties
and some errors.
Philatelist Armando Mário O. Vieira, who in 1984 was
awarded the Crawford Medal by the Royal Philatelic Society
London, wrote a book about the stamp titled O Cavaleiro
Medieval (The Medieval Knight). The 167-page book was
published in 1996. I have not seen the book, but an online
summary states: “The author describes the general characteristics
of this issue and elaborates a catalog of 600 stamps
with imperfections and defects, which are valuable because
of their rarity.”
Jaime Martins Barata (1899-1970) – a Portuguese painter,
teacher, designer and scholar – designed the stamps. Barata’s
big break as an artist came in 1940 at the Portuguese World
Expo, for which he painted a series of large panels representing
scenes from the country’s history. The artist also was invited
by the Portuguese Post Office to design a commemorative
stamp of the event. Barata created more stamps for the
postal service and in 1947 was appointed art consultant to the
Portuguese post office, a position he held until his retirement.
Barata is credited with the designs of several other Portuguese
stamps, including the Caravels of 1943 (the artist
actively participated throughout his life in the historical debate
over the transition to the Portuguese caravel of the 15th
JULY 2018 / AMERICAN PHILATELIST 651