Abkhazia
Fossils, prehistoric animals, paleontologist on stamps and postmarks of Abkhazia
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| Regular letter from Abkhazia, with stamps of Ammonite from 2019, sent to Germany in 2023 |
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Abkhazia is a disputed territory of Georgia and partially recognized state controlled by a separatist government on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus. Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny. This status is recognized by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru as well as by the partially recognized state of South Ossetia and the unrecognized Transnistria (an unrecognized break-away republic in eastern Moldova Moldova) and Nagorno-Karabakh (a disputed territory in western Azerbaijan). [R1]
Most stamps of Abkhazia are believed to be bogus, produced in foreign countries solely for sale to collectors, but more recently Abkhazia has produced stamps that may have legitimate use locally within the borders of the disputed area. They are not recognized by the UPU.
In 2017, Russian Post and Abkhazia signed a cooperation
agreement, according to which the Russian company will provide
forwarding of international shipments to Abkhazia. [R2]
However, I been told that Abkhazia Post considered their new stamps as
collectible items only.
So even when enough postage is affixed to the envelopes, the sender is still asked to
pay enough cash to cover the full postage cost.
Only after that, Abkhazia post will then mark the envelope “postage paid”.
The 2020 MICHEL stamps catalog added Abkhazian
stamps to their list and started to assign issue numbers for each stamp.
Attention!: According to FIP regulations, issues of countries who are not recognized by the UPU is not allowed to be used at exhibitions organized or sponsored by FIP. The FIP recommends that collectors avoid these stamps in their collections.
Official stamps of Abkhazia that related to Paleontology: fossils, prehistoric animals, paleobotanist
| 29.11.1994 "Prehistoric Mammals of Caucasus" | 10.05.1996 "Asian Philatelic Exhibition Hong Kong’96" | 22.12.1998 "Botanist A.A. Kolakovsky" [1] |
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| 12.09.2019 "Archaeology of Abkhazia" [2] | ||
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Notes:
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Alfred Alekseevich Kolakovsky on stamp of Abkhazia 1998 MiNr.: 281 |
The cover of "Pliocene Flora of the Kodori" book by Alfred Alekseevich Kolakovsky. |
In 1964 he published a book "Pliocene Flora of the Kodori". (Kodori valley is the valley around Kodori river - one of the two largest rivers of Abkhazia.)
The stamp was issued in a sheet of 16 with 4 tabs on the corners and exist as perforated and imperforated variations.
Fossil of Pinus pontiac Kolak shown on a tab in the bottom right corner of the sheet. [R3]
[2] On September 12th, the Ministry of Information of Abkhazia, issued a stamp depicting an ammonite among many other stamps. The Ammonite stamp has a face value of 10R, the domestic letter rate. It was issued as mini-sheets with both perforate and imperforate variants. The title of the issue as written in both Abkhazian and English was “Archeology of Abkhazia”. Unfortunately, it is not the first time that Postal Authorities around the world have mixed up Archaeology with Paleontology.
The stamp available as perforated and imperforated.
Commemorative postmarks of Abkhazia that related to Paleontology: fossils
Legend is here
| 12.09.2019 "Archeology of Abkhazia" [FDC] [2] | ||
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References
- [R1] Abkhazia: Wikipedia, WikiTravel
- [R2] Postal History and Philately of Abkhazia:
Postal history of Georgia: Wikipedia,
Links to catalogue of Abkhazia's stamps are here - [R3] Alfred Alekseevich Kolakovsky:
Wikipedia (on Russian),
"Pliocene Flora of the Kodori" by Alfred Alekseevich Kolakovsky, published in 1964 (on Russian) Google-books, apsnyteka.org
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for reviewing the draft page.