Dragons are the most loyal companions of human civilisation. No historical period has passed without their presence. They continue to be among us and will follow us until the last breath of humanity. Although we do not see them, they are always somewhere nearby. They never leave us, as they are constantly connected to us by an invisible, magical energy that touches the distant corners of our subconscious, where the memory of prehistory resides. This is the memory of our ancestors, who knew the great mystery and realised that humanity is only a temporary guest in the eternal Kingdom of Dragons!

Zmaj vseh zmajev
The Dragon of All Dragons
Marko Frelih, PhD
Slovene Ethnographic Museum
Zmaj-vseh-zmajev-web-zlozenka.pdf (ljubljanskigrad.si)

Is there such a thing as “dragon philately”? If there isn’t, there should be. Taken from both myths and modern stories, dragons appear on hundreds of stamps from countries around the world. 

Wyrms, serpents & lizards 

Dragons are shown as serpents, lizard-like creatures or a mix of styles. They are hoarders of treasures, devourers of humans and protector guardians. Dragons have accompanied us for as long as we’ve spun tales to explain the world around us. Early stories about dragons can be traced to Sumerian mythology in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. Around the same time, simultaneous tales appeared in China, during the reign of Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, where they became symbols of the emperor’s heavenly power.

Setting aside the numerous Lunar New Year series, there are still  more dragon stamps than you can shake a stick at.  Each region has their own take on what dragons are, what they look like, their characteristics and folklores attached to them. Their role can be quite complex. Depending on the mythology attached to the individual dragons, they can take on many human characteristics. At times they are portrayed as sly, cunning, and highly intelligent.  Other times, dragons driven by a hatred of humanity or pure animal instincts to eat tasty humans. Another set of dragons take on mystical powers, sometimes interacting with humans as a beneficial guide or controlling nature. The stories are as diverse as human mythology. 

Guardian Dragons

Dragons play a significant role in the Icelandic Nordic sagas, where they are one of the Landvættir, the 4 guardians.  Here they are protectors of Iceland.  

In the Heimskringla saga of King Olaf Tryggvason, it is written that when the devious King Harald Bluetooth was plotting to invade Iceland, he had a sorcerer take the form of a terrible whale who was to locate the island’s points of vulnerability. But each of the four times the whale-sorcerer attempted to go ashore, a magnificent spirit of the land forced him out to sea again. These four spirits, known as Land Wights, are Iceland’s guardians. A Complete Guide to Folklore in Iceland | Guide to Iceland

This June 1, 1930 airmail, (part of a set of 5) shows the 4 guardians with the dragon, Dreki, guarding the northeast. 

1000th anniversary of Iceland’s Parliament the Snæfellsjökull by Tryggir Magnus

 This next image lets him strut his stuff. This type of heraldic style shows up in coats of arms around Europe and is associated with courage.

Iceland coat of arms by Prostur Magnusson 1989

There’s nothing fluffy bunny about Dreki. He is a dangerous opponent and fierce protector of the land.

First, the king’s wizard-whale attempted to land in the Eastern Fjords where he was challenged by a dragon so fierce, that the ocean burned under its breath and each flap of its wings was the clapping of thunder. The dragon was companied by terrible snakes, lizards, and slithering spirits and upon seeing them, the trembling whale-wizard retreated back into the depths of the undersea.    A Complete Guide to Folklore in Iceland | Guide to Iceland

St. George & Welsh Dragons  

Onto the British Isles where you can go with St. George slaying the dragon or another protector in the Welsh Y Ddraig Goch.

This 1929 stamp uses the classic image of St. George pinning a hapless dragon with a lance. The dragon, coiling its body in pain, represents something frightening and evil. In the St. George canon, the dragon has the role of the devil being defeated by a good Christian. 

Great Britain 1929 Postal Union Congress stamp Designer: Harold Nelson
Engraver: J.A.C. Harrison

St George is closely identified with England, but the figure resonates across the European continent.  Although the origin story of St. George has no mention of dragons, his character became entwined with dragon slaying due to the medieval hagiography Golden Legend (1260 AD). It’s an archetypal tale of a dragon terrorising a village. When no convenient sheep was available to sacrifice to the dragon and appease it’s hunger, the villagers decided the next best thing to do is, of course, offer up the local maiden, who sometimes becomes a princess. Enter the hero, St. George, who kills the dragon and rescues the maiden. In the end, the relieved villagers are so thankful the knight saved them from the evil dragon, they convert to Christianity. There are variations on this, but that’s basically the theme. 

Closer truth is George was a young Roman who was martyred during the Diocletian persecutions (c. 303-305). No England, no dragon killing, no princess to save, no kingdom converted to Christianity. 

The Welsh dragon is derived from the folklore god Dewi. Dewi was a benevolent, wise protector who took the shape of a dragon, unlike the predatory, man eater.. er well, maiden eating dragon of the St. George myth. The Welsh version is generally bright red in most images, with a barbed tongue and a formidable winged creature. Dewi is similar to the Icelandic dragon – courageous, noble and a fierce protector of the land.

1999 Welsh dragon

2009 red dragon – Dathlu Cymru – Celebrating Wales

“No dragon can resist the fascination of riddling talk…”

Another dragon makes an appearance on Great Britain’s stamps  – Smaug from the Hobbit.  Smaug is one of the sly, hoarder dragons, who sits atop piles of gold and gems. 

1998 Great Britain – Smaug and Bilbo Designer: Peter Malone

There he lay, a vast red-golden dragon, fast asleep; thrumming came from his jaws and nostrils, and wisps of smoke, but his fires were low in slumber. Beneath him, under all his limbs and his huge coiled tail, and about him on all sides stretching away across the unseen floors, lay countless piles of precious things, gold wrought and unwrought, gems and jewels, and silver red-stained in the ruddy light. Smaug lay, with wings folded like an immeasurable bat, turned partly on one side, so that the hobbit could see his underparts and his long pale belly crusted with gems and fragments of gold from his long lying on his costly bed.  The Hobbit from the chapter Inside Information.

St. George rides again

St George pops up again in Spanish semi-postals from 1944. The wingless dragon has a muscular, pumped look. Less dragon and more Komodo.  It looks like it could bench press it’s own weight. 

1944 Spain semi-postal  Engraver: F.N.M.T.

In the Spanish tales of St. George, the local villagers run out of sheep and start to offer up 1 villager a day, male and female. Far more egalitarian. It still has the princess in peril, a knight who happens upon the scene, and a dragon who meets a miserable death at the end of a pointy thing.  

Another Spanish dragon is Cuélebre, a Smaug-like creature. Disappointingly I could find no Spanish stamp featuring it. If anyone knows of one, please let me know. I’d love to add it to this list.

Compare the above St. George to this 1946 Czechoslovakia semi-postal. The wings are back and dragon is far more serpent like.  It’s a beautiful engraving. 

1946 Czechoslovakia semi-postal

Similar St. George and the dragon stamps can be found across Europe, from Liechtenstein to Georgia. 

Lindwurms & woolly rhinos

Austria has 2 dragons that make stamp appearances. The first, the Dragon or Wyvern of Klagenfurt, has an interesting back history.

IN THE 13TH CENTURY A dragon was wreaking havoc in Klagenfurt, causing floods that destroyed crossings and threatened travelers along the River Glen. A duke offered a reward for anyone who could capture it, and a brave young man tied a bull to a chain and caught the dragon like a fish. Lindwurmbrunnen – Klagenfurt, Austria – Atlas Obscura

1997 Wyvern of Klagenfurt Austria Designer: A. Tuma Engraver: W. Pfeiler

The Lindwurm dragon monument, in Klagenfurt, is actually modeled on a skull of a woolly rhinoceros, found in the area around 1335. It was assumed the skull was from a dragon and the statue was built around that idea. It wasn’t a hard leap for locals to think “dragon” because stories were plentiful about a water dragon that lived in Klagenfurt. (Das Drachen-Bestiarium – Der Lindwurm)

Old Norse heroes make an appearance in the shape “Sigfried Slaying the Dragon”. 

Sigfried slays the dragon Designer: Wilhelm Dachauer Engraver: Rupert Franke

This 1926 charity stamp features a story from Volsunga Saga where Sigfried kills the dragon Fafnir, another treasure hiding dragon.  Designer Dachauer’s stamp tells the entire story in one epic frame. The dragon remains terrifying, even in death. It’s all horns and hulking muscle beside the exhausted Sigfried. 

Cyprus’ Dragon King

In 2013, Cyprus showcased a modern dragon from Hambis Tsangaris’ tale of Spanos and the Forty Dragons. The dragons in the story can’t resist a challenge, like any good dragon in the Smaug tradition.  The story relates how Spanos tricks the Dragon King into believing Spanos is stronger and more powerful through series of silly tests.  

The Dragon King is typical, with pointed tongue, wings and armoured skin. His eyes are narrow and devious. T  

Spanos and the forty dragons – [PPTX Powerpoint] (vdocument.in) has a translated version of this delightful story. 

“Dragon of all dragons”

If you want a seriously dangerous dragon, look at Serbia’s fantastic Zmaj”, “Dragon of all dragons”. Issued in 2021, this might be the best stamp of the year. 

2021 Serbian stamps 150 years since sending the first Serbian postcard single stamp showing an AWESOME dragon

150 years since sending the first Serbian postcard FDC 2021

 First Serbian postcard, popularly called ”Zmaj” (Dragon), was sent by Jovan Manojlović on 19th of May 1871 from Vienna, from the editorial board of the newspaper ”Zmaj” to Sombor, to the address of a lawyer Dimitrije Manojlović. It was written in Serbian language, in Cyrillic. The postcard was printed on a cardboard of 155 mm x 105 mm format, in the coloured copper engraving technique, done by the Vienna typographer and carver Rudolf Schürer von Waldheim at the beginning of 1871. The postcard was ordered by the editorial board of the satirical newspaper ”Zmaj”, which was one of the first and the best edited humorous newspapers in Serbian language. It was the reason why its founder and editor-in-chief, poet Jovan Jovanović was nicknamed Zmaj. This satirical newspaper was founded by Jovan Jovanović in 1864, and the name ”Zmaj” is a play on words, since May 3 was the date of the May Assembly in 1848 (in Cyrillic 3. мај – Змај).

Serbia sees a departure in what how dragons are depicted. They aren’t viewed in black and white terms of guardian or evil. They are far more entwined in the lives of mere human and it’s not beneath a dragon to take up housekeeping with a local woman.

It is considered as extremely intelligent, wise and knowledgeable creature of superhuman strength and proficiency in magic, very rich (usually described as having castles of enormous riches hidden in distant lands) and often lustful for women, upon whom it is capable of begetting offspring. It often breathes fire and is generally accepted as a highly respected being, and, while not wholly benevolent, never entirely evil either. Legends were spread about many historical and mythical heroes that they were conceived by a dragon. Dragons in Serbian Mythology – Jastrebac Lake Resort

 Syri i Kaltër & Baxram Gur

Albanians love their dragons too. One dragon story tells the tale of how the Syri i Kaltër, the Blue Eye, a natural spring, formed.  According to legend, a dragon (sometimes giant snake) roamed the Albanian countryside eating children. The dragon met an old man who used his poor donkey to bring the dragon to a gruesome end.

During the encounter, the man set his donkey on fire. That didn’t stop the dragon from swallowing the donkey whole. In a great deal of pain and terrified, the donkey, still on fire, began crying. The donkey BBQ in turn gave the dragon the worse case of heartburn ever recorded. The pain caused the dragon to cry, forming the famous Blue Eye spring. 

This myth is shown in a 1997 series. The designer uses a pretty typical dragon, with small bat-like wings, a forked tongue and an evil looking grin on it’s face. 

Legend of Syri i Kaltër 1997 Designer: A. Matsoukis and L. Taci

Azerbaijan’s 1997 “Baxram Gur Kills a Dragon” offers a different type. Baxram Gur, also called Bahram V, was the King of Persia (420–438) during the Sassanid Empire. He appears in fantastical tales in the SHAHNAMEH, or Shāh-Nāmeh Persian Book of Kings by Firdausi .

Depending on which country the tale springs from, the dragon can have wings, be more lizard like or is a serpent. Styles are diverse. Azerbaijan uses a classic wyrm which resembles a massive wingless snake/worm creature. 

1997 “Baxram Gur Kills a Dragon” part of a 4 stamp set

The story is a familiar one with the hero Bexram hunting down the beast who had killed and eaten a child. Firdaus’s dragon exists on both land and in the water.  “Its enormous tail was so powerful that it could encompass an elephant. It could also generate huge waves in the sea.” (Michael Chagnon) 

Slaying the capitalist dragon

One of the most intriguing dragon stamps came out of the Russian Revolution. The short lived Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic issued  “New Russia Triumphs” in 1921.  It doesn’t seem to be relying on the usual motifs of child/village eaters. It’s far more political in tone. 

“New Russia Triumphs” issued August 10, 1921

The propaganda is difficult to miss – I suspect the dragon is capitalism, and the shirtless man is the rise of the common man, communism, slaying the enemy.  It’s interesting to see dragons show up on stamps after wars and upheaval to symbolise man’s triumph over what that country considered evil. 

Nihon no ryū, Kirins, Tatsu and more

Some of the most widely recognised dragon images come from China and Japan. These dragons are similar to the Serbian dragons, being neither pure good or evil. They are much more complex in both character and design. 

The one of the first stamps featuring a dragon was the Japanese “facing dragons” issued April 20, 1871.  Stylistically? These dragons are of a different cut than their European counterparts.  Japan’s many dragons cover an entire pantheon of gods, goddesses, good, evil, and occasionally indifference to the chaos they can cause.   

Japan facing dragons April 20, 1871

Take a close look at dragon’s claws and note Japanese dragons have 3. This is typical of Japanese dragons. 

Japanese dragons are often identified as water deities. On the vernal equinox, they ascend to the skies, bringing with them spring and summer. They return to their watery home on the autumnal equinox, sleeping through fall and winter. The 1971 stamp, “Dragon & Tiger” by Hashimoto Gaho is an example of the close tie dragons have to water. The dragon looks a little startled, as if wondering how the hell it got there.

1971 stamp – Dragon & Tiger, by Hashimoto Gaho. 2 stamp series

The dragon reappears in 2000 with a Morita Motoharu’s highly stylized image that leaves no doubt as to the dragon’s affinity with water. 

April 20, 2000 issue of Dragon & Tiger

2008 saw the Crying Dragon. Stylistically, these serpent dragons are similar – 3 claws, horned ears, long whiskers and a undercurrent of mystical power. 

Crying Dragon showing a 3 toed dragon

No article on dragons can be complete without a nod to the most famous Japanese dragon – Gojira ゴジラ, or Godzilla. Some will quibble that Godzilla is a dinosaur, not a dragon, but what’s a dragon but a dinosaur who hasn’t been told it’s extinct. 

2006 Godzilla stamp from Japan

Godzilla is, in many ways a typical Japanese dragon. It’s neither good nor evil. In some instances Godzilla wreaks havoc on Japan and in others protects the country (and later earth) from dangers. Godzilla rises from the oceans and eventually disappears back to the water when the battles are done. Basically, Godzilla punishes humans for not taking care of the planet and protects them from outside threats.  Ah, the advantages of spending Saturday afternoons watching Godzilla movies in the 60s.   

Lung or Long dragons 

Chinese dragons share Japan’s long, snakey look. Though powerful, their appearance doesn’t take on the armoured, muscular European dragons.  China’s Imperial Dragon is a majestic, stylized creature, that is often reflected in Chinese New Year designs around the world. 

Canada Lunar New Year dragons 2000

The best description for the first dragon to appear on a Chinese stamp is quixotic. It appears as if it’s enjoying a private joke or playing Twister. It’s odd, no matter how you look at it.  Claw watching is important with Chinese dragons.  The number of claws varied on Lungs with 5 toes normally reserved for emperors 

1878 large dragons

Did you notice the dragons from Japan and China are often wingless?  There area few with wings, but unlike European dragons, they don’t need them to fly. They rely on mystical powers to take to the air.

By 1898 the dragons have a more familiar coiled shape and fierce demeanor.  These issues are classics in every sense of the word. This 5 toed imperial dragon’s facial features are repeated in images over and over throughout Chinese history. 

1898 coiled dragon

Like their Japanese cousins, Chinese dragons are deeply involved in the lives of humans. The Chinese pantheon of dragons is divided into different categories, depending on their characteristics and each having a specific domain to control, from the heavens to the seas and the underworld with humans serving the role as dragon snack or a rider taken to the stars.   

1992 Flight on a Dragon from a cave painting

This next stamp “Lord Ye’s Love of Dragons” tells the story of an lord who professed to love all things about dragons. He was a super fan. He had pictures of them, robes embroidered with dragon images, walls covered in them – everything was about dragons. When a celestial dragon heard of Ye’s deep veneration of them, he decided to visit the lord. The dragon descended to the palace and when Lord Ye saw the him, he fled in fear, never giving the dragon a chance to speak or thank him for his devotion. 

2004 Proverbs Lord Ye’s love of dragons

The dragon was disappointed in Ye’s lack of courage and the Lord’s love was proven to be superficial at best.  Note, the dragon has 4 claws, not the imperial 5, showing Ye’s status.  You can see dragons carved into the pillar and twin jade dragons on the cabinet.  

More dragons please 

I’ve skipped over so many countries. These stamps offer a brief overview of the types of dragons you can find and barely scratch the surface. If you’d like to see more dragons, drop a comment below and I’ll do a second part. If you spotted an error, please let me know in the comments so I can correct it. 

Don’t forget to share and like this article so I can tell if it’s something you’d like to see more of. 

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