Cover of the Day - Portugal

[Alan Baker]

I have started this as a new topic, as the one started by Peter is getting very long. Some of you will have seen this cover before, but I felt it was worth putting up again.

This is a postcard from a Portuguese officer returning from leave in 1917. Artur Luiz Felipe de Magalhaes was a lieutenant in the military administration and was a prolific writer to his wife. This postcard bears a Spanish stamp and his service record shows that he was on leave at this time. As no sea transport was available, officers going to or from Portugal on leave were obliged to travel by train through Spain, a neutral country. To avoid any incident with the Spanish authorities, they travelled in civilian clothes.

[Nick Colley]

Presumably that censor mark is of Spanish origin, then?

chrs
N

[Alan Baker]

No, it is Portuguese, applied on arrival in the country