Dinosaurs

1965: Prehistoric Animals

Here is the plant eating Edaphosaurus (the name translates as 'pavement lizard'), the descriptions of it refer to the frilly attachment on its back as a 'sail' and there are all sorts of theories to what it was and what it was used for but of course no one really knows. I like to think of it floating along a river tacking from side to side. The stamp is part of a set by the graphic designer Andrzej Heidrich (1928-) who is also famous for designing beautiful Polish banknotes and inventing a typeface.

Next is the only stamp I have that portrays both the skeleton and the actuality

1958: Chinese Fossils

which is appropriate because it portrays a dinosaur from Lufeng in Yunnan  and its Dinosaur Museum  displays four complete skeletons.  The area is rich in fossils of animals and plants.

Journeying to another continent we have what was part of Gondwana when dinosaurs roamed the earth

1982: Karoo Fossils

and now the Karoo region of South Africa, which is described as containing the richest fossil beds on earth.  Today it is a a semi-desert region, in contrast to the prehistoric times of rivers and wet tropical forests. The stamp shows a Bradysaurus which looks deceptively small on the stamp but in actuality it was 2-5 meters long and weighed in at a half to one tonne.

The stamps all show representations of ancient plant life but when Royal Mail issued their Dinosaur set in 2013 they went for self-adhesive 'pop out' stamps

so I'll show a FDC of a steaming mist of a prehistoric landscape. The stamps were designed by the illustrator John Sibbick who specialises in prehistoric and natural history which fits nicely into his other speciality of fantasy where the imagination can run free.  The dinosaurs on the stamps certainly seem to have their own individual personalities.   All the species chosen to be shown on the stamps are ones that have been found in England and the south coast is especially rich in fossils. The Maidstone cancel shows a iguanadon (also shown on the bottom middle stamp) which was found in a local quarry in 1834 and incorporated into the town's coat of arms (see here) and known as the Maidstone Iguanadon.   

An entry to Violet Sky's Sunday Stamps II theme of - 'Dinosaurs or big animals', see more big beasts here