The Czech Republic
Dinosaurs, prehistoric animals, fossils and fossil-found places, paleontologist, Charles Darwin on stamps and postamrks of the Czech Republic
Contents:
The Czech Republic,
also known as Czechia , is a nation state in Central Europe
bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the
east and Poland to the northeast. It is a unitary
parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital
and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents.
In the 19th century, the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse
of the monarchy and were subsequently the core of the Republic of
Czechoslovakia, which was formed in 1918 following the collapse of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I. Czechoslovakia was
occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the
Soviet and the United States Army. Most of the German-speaking
inhabitants were expelled after the war and thus the country lost its
sizable minority and its bilingual character. The Communist Party of
Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup d'état,
Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet
influence. In 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime
culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended
in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the
1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed and a
multiparty parliamentary republic was formed. On 1 January 1993,
Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states
becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and
Slovakia.
[R1]
The first stamps of the
Czech Republic were
issued on 20 January 1993 after the former Czechoslovakia was split
into the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic from 1 January 1993.
Before then, stamps of the Czechoslovak Republic were in use and were
still valid until 30 September 1993.
[R2]
Official stamps of Czech Republic related to Paleontology: dinosaurs and other prehistoric
animals. fossils, paleontologist, Charles Darwin
Notes:
[1]
All three stamps based on illustrations of famous
Czechoslovakian paleo-artist Zdenek Burian. So far there are no stamps
with him, but
postmark issued by
Czech's post in 1995.
[2] Stamp with face value of 25
CZK of "Works of art on
postage stamps" shows Deinotherium picture painted in 1940 by famous
Czech Paleoartist Zdenek

Burian for Charles University in Prague.
Deinotherium
("terrible beast") was a large prehistoric relative of modern-day elephants that
appeared in the Middle Miocene and survived until the Early
Pleistocene. During that time it changed very little. In life, it
probably resembled modern elephants, except that its trunk was shorter,
and it had downward curving tusks attached to the lower jaw. More
information about this stamp is
here
[3] Stamp with face value of 12
CZK from "Explorers"
set shows
Ferdinand
Stolicka,
who was Czech geologist, paleontologist
and natural scientist of a world significance, who worked in India on
paleontology, geology and various aspects of zoology, including
ornithology and herpetology. He died of high altitude sickness during
an expedition across the Himalayas. More information about
this stamp is
here
.
[4] Stamp with face
value of 12 CZK from
"Personalities" set shows Charles Darwin. Distinguish
from Michel
catalog, Czrech's Post define these two stamps as a set.
[5] Kaspar Maria von
Sternberg
(born on January 6th, 1761 at Brezina Castle) was one of the leading
scientists of the first half of the 19th century, with a special
interest in botany, geology and paleontology, and is considered as one
of the founders of paleobotany.
Other stamps to consider: fossil-found places, contributors to Paleontology science,
Natural History Museums
|
02.02.1994 "Personalities" [A1]
|
02.09.2009
"Nature Protection - The Krivoklatsko Region - A UNESCO
Biosphere - Eudia pavoniaReserve" [A2] |
 |
 |
 |
01.09.2010
"Nature
Protection - Biosphere Reserve Lower Morava" [A8] |
04.09.2013
"Nature
Protection - Karlstejn Region" [A3]
|
12.10.2016
"The Železné hory Protected Landscape Area" [A4] |
 |
 |
 |
20.01.2017
"Tradition of Czech
Stamp Design — Oldřich Pošmurný" [A5]
|
21.06.2017
"The Moravian Museum
in Brno" [A6] |
10.10.2018 "200 anniversary of the National Museum in Prague" [A7] |
 |
 |
 |
Notes:
[A1]
Georg
Bauer (1494- 1555), depicting on "blue" stamp with face value of 6 kc

,
better known by
the Latin version
of his name Georgius
Agricola, is considered the founder of geology as
a discipline. His work paved the way for further systematic study of
the Earth and of its rocks, minerals, and fossils.
In 1544, he published the De
ortu et causis subterraneorum, in which he laid the first
foundations of a physical geology, and criticized the theories of the
ancients. However, he maintained that a certain 'materia pinguis' or
'fatty matter,' set into fermentation by heat, gave birth to fossil
organic shapes,
as opposed to fossil shells having belonged to living animals. In 1545,
he followed with the De
natura eorum quae effluunt e terra; in 1546 the De veteribus et novis
metallis,
a comprehensive account of the discovery and occurrence of minerals and
also more commonly known as De
Natura Fossilium; in 1548, the De animantibus subterraneis;
and in the two following years a number of smaller works on the metals.
[A2]
"Nature Protection - The Krivoklatsko Region - A UNESCO Biosphere -
Eudia pavonia Reserve" shows various landscapes of the region,
also known as fossil
found place. Fossils
with well preserved soft
parts
were ascertained in several different levels of two Cambrian
units of the Příbram-Jince Basin as well as in diverse levels of the
Skryje-Týřovice Basin, the area belongs to the region.
Some trilobites
are depicting on commemorative postmarks used on
one FDC
of the set.
[A3] The mini sheet "Nature
Protection - Karlstejn Region" shows various landscapes of the region,
also known as fossil-found place. The area
boasts many precious,
geologically significant profiles and world-famous fossil deposits
shared with the neighbouring Bohemian Karst area. The prevailing
sedimentary structures contain numerous karst caves. The Koněprusy
Caves, hidden in the Zlatý kůň (Golden Horse) hill about 5 km far from
Beroun, are the best known ones. Visitors can see about 600 meters of
the more than 2 kilometre long caves. Inside, archaeologists found many
animal bones dating back more than half a million years and human bones
about 13 thousand years old. Some trilobites are depicting on
one FDC
of the set.
[A4] Iron Mountains are the key
to geological history of central Europe.
Proterozoic gneisses and volcanosedimentary complexes (subaerial and
submari ne volcanism) are present. The earliest life forms have been
found – stromatolites.

The
Paleozoic comprises Cambrian siltstones,
Ordovi cian quartzites, Silurian shales, Devonian limestones and
Carboniferous sediments. Ra re fossils include trilobite and graptolite
fauna. The third oldest ichnofossil of Zoophycos type in the world has
been reported. The Mesozoic (Upper Cretaceous) sedimentary cover h
as a unique development, with abundant fauna and flora. Sandstones and
spiculitic marlstones provide excellent conditions for groundwater
accumulation. Tertiary rocks are represented by basalt enclosing
olivine-rich xenoliths. Geological story of the area is completed by
Quaternary loess and sandy gravel. Over a hundred geosites have been
described
from this area. The above facts became grounds for listing the Iron
Mountains as a National Geopark. More info is
here.
Fossilized ammonite depicting on a postmark used fro FDC.
[A5] Oldřich
Pošmurný was
born on 8 April 1942 in Tábor. He studied graphic design of books and
magazines with Prof. Vladimír Ringes, history of book design with Prof.
František Klikar, and illustration and figure drawing with V.J. Žižka.
After graduation Oldřich Pošmurný worked as a graphic editor in the
Svoboda publishing house. From 1968, he worked as a free-lance graphic
artist. He co-designed
the series Zdeněk Burian’s Ancient Dinosauresand
designed
Dinosaur's
stamps of Czech Republic in 1994.
The
postage stamp is issued both in the form of sheets and as a book of 8
stamps and 4 coupons.
[A6]
The museum was founded in July 1817 in Brno. Its collections
include over 6 million objects from many fields of science and culture,
include some fossils in Paleontologic and Paleoanthoropolgic
exhibits.
[A7] On October 10th
.2018
Post authority of Czech Republic issued a
stamp "200 years of the National Museum in Prague".
The stamp depicts the building and expositions of the National Museum.
Th5e National Museum is the largest Czech museum. Museum started with
donations of large private
collections, dedicated mostly to natural science, by a group of local
aristocrats led by Count
Kaspar Maria
Sternberg, who also led an effort to set up a museum.
[A8] In 2003 the
Committee of the International
Coordination Council of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme
in Paris approved the extension of the Pálava Biosphere
Reserve
to include the Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape and the floodplain
forests at the confluence of the Morava and Dyje rivers. The newly
designated area, covering over 300km2, was renamed the Lower Morava
Biosphere Reserve. The reserve encompasses a unique combination of
limestone cliffs of the Pálava
Hills (In the Upper Tertiary period, the hills were
surrounded by a warm sea. During the Quaternary fossils
were deposited on the footslopes of the Pavlov Hills), the rare Central
European lowland floodplains along the lower reaches of the Kyjovka,
Dyje and Morava rivers and the Lednice-Valtice Cultural
Landscape.
Personalized Post Stationary
There are many personalized
postal stationery (post cards with imprinted stamp) issued in Czech, here
are only some of them.
These post stationaries are based on standard postal stationery produced
by
Czech's Post Authority without any image on the left side.
Notes:
[PS1] Paleontologist
Joachim Barrande also depicting on post
stamp
1999
[PS2] Famous Czech's
paleoartist Zdenek Burian. His illustration can be seen on many stamps,
for example
Czech 1994
[PS3]
Paleontologist Kaspar Maria von Steinberg also depicting on post
stamp 2011
Other Paleontology related Philatelic products of Czech's Post
Postmarks of Czech related to Paleontology: dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, fossils,
paleontologists
Legend is here
Other postmarks to consider: flint tools, Paleo-artists, stylized prehistoric animals
Legend is here
11.02.1995 "90th anniversary of Zdenek Burian" [CA1] [Sp] |
04.04.2018 "Eduard
Storch" [FDC] |
xx.xx.2019 "Fauna-Flora philatelic club" [CA1] [Sp] |
 |
 |
 |
06.10.2019 "60 years of death of Prof. Dr. Karl Absolona" [Sp] |
|
|
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|
|
Notes:
[CA1]
Zdenek Burian
(1905-1981) was a Czech painter and book illustrator whose
work played a central role in the development of
palaeontological reconstructions
during a remarkable career spanning five decades. Many of his
illustrations used as source of international stamps, include
Czech stamps of 1994.
[CA2]
registered
label with
postmark of Czech's "Flora and Fauna" philatelic club. The
postmark of ammonite shape shows stylized dinosaur,
perhaps Trex,
inside
The text above the postmark: "Resumption of Fauna-Flora Expert Section at Union of Czech Philatelists." Similar
postmarks issued in Prague, Plzen and Kladno cities.
References:
[R1]
Czech Republic:
[R2]
Postal History and Philately of Czech Republic:
- Wikipedia
- Links to official website of Post Authority, stamp catalog and list of new stamps of Czech Republic are here