the place where Paleontology and Paleoanthropology meets Philately
France
Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, fossils, paleontologists, contributor to Paleontology on official and personalized stamps, postmarks and postal stationeries of France
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Contents:
- Country overview
- Philately at France
- Official stamps of France related to Paleontology
- Some personalized stamps of France related to Paleontology
- Another stamps of France to consider
- Post stationery of France related to Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
- Commemorative postmarks and meter franking of France related to Paleontology
- Postmarks and meter franking with direct connection to Paleontology: dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, fossils, prehistoric humans, paleontologists
- Postmarks and meter franking of philatelic and fossil trade shows and exhibitions listed separately.
- "Another postmarka and meter franking to consider" cave paintings of prehistoric animals, Natural History Museum, flint tools, contributors to Paleontology and Paleoanthropology sciences.
- References
- Acknowledge
France, officially the French Republic, is a unitary sovereign state comprising territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European part of France, called metropolitan France, extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and has a total population of 66.6 million. It is a unitary semi-presidential republic with the capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. The Constitution of France establishes the state as secular and democratic, with its sovereignty derived from the people. [R1]
Philately: The first stamps of France were issued on 1 January 1849. In last years issue France over 200 (!) stamps every year.
Sometimes imperforated French are offered by some dealers, especially in Internet. These stamps are printed in very small quantities and offered to the authorities (Postmaster General, Minister's office, prefects, designer of stamp, etc.). And sometimes these authorities sell them to traders who, themselves, sell them to collectors. These imperforated "stamps" are not valid for postage and can not be used for franking letters. [R2]
>Official stamps of France related to Paleontology: dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, fossils, prehistoric humans, paleontologists
Notes:
[1] Some catalogs listed these 3 stamps as a set, other as individual stamps.
Pink stamp shows Georges Cuvier (1769-1852), who was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "father of paleontology".
[2] Tautavel Man, an early hominid and some of the oldest human remains in Europe, was found in Caune de l'Arago, a cave in Tautavel commune in France. Tautavel Man (Homo erectus tautavelensis) is a proposed subspecies of Homo erectus, the type specimen being 450,000-year-old fossil remains discovered in the Arago Cave in Tautavel, France. Excavations began in 1964, with the first notable discovery occurring in 1969. All fossils recovered from Arago were found by Henry and Marie-Antoinette de Lumley and are now located at the Institute for Human Palaeontology in Paris.
[3] Natural History Museum in Paris is one of the oldest Natural History Museums in the world, has very big fossils collection of prehistoric humand and prehistoric animals, include dinosaurs. On them depicting on stamp from 2000.
[4] joint issue with Monaco
[5] On
January 6, 2014 Post Authority of France issued a booklet of 12
self adhesive stamps with permanent validity and costs of the
domestic priority
letter up to 20 gr. Dynamic lines, swirling
movement
of life, in nature, in construction, in craft in art . The
booklet highlights the mystery of motion, especially that of
the
spiral. One of these stamp is depicting an ammonite."Ammonites were free-swimming molluscs of the ancient oceans, living around the same time that the dinosaurs walked the Earth and disappearing during the same extinction event. They came in a range of sizes, from tiny species only a couple of centimetres across, to large ones reaching over two metres in diameter. The animal would have lived in the last and largest of a chain of spiralled chambers. Filling these chambers with fluid or gas allowed the ammonite to sink like a stone to avoid predators, though ammonite shells with toothmarks on them have been found, evidence that it didn't always work. Fossilised shells are usually, but not always, beautiful spirals." BBC
[6] Booklet of 12 self adhesive stamps "Works of Nature". One of the stamps "'Helminthoides Flysch"
Helminthe are parasitic worms . The term helminth does not correspond to a specific zoological category.
"Helminthoides" or '"helminthoid" refers to a category of deep sea trace fossils with a characteristic tight meandering pattern. Traces of this sort are now placed in the several different ichnogenera including Nereites, Helmthinopsis, Helminthoida, etc.
"Flysch" refers to a kind of sedimentary rock succession deposited in deeper water settings adjacent to a rising mountain system.
So, 'Helminthoides Flysch' or 'Helminthoid Flysch' is a term for flysch deposits that contain (in certain beds) a specific assemblage of deep water trace fossils.
Some personalized stamps related to Paleontology: dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, fossils, prehistoric humans, paleontologists
| 11.05.2008 "House of Marble and Geology at Rinxent" | xx.xx.2010 "Prehistory museum in Quinson" [SP1] | 23.11.2011 "Neanderthals of Saint Césaire" [SP2] |
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| 09.12.2014 "100 anniversary of Saturnin Garimond" | 19.05.2016 "89th Congress of the FFAP" [SP3] | 02.02.2018 "150 anniversary since death of Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes" |
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[SP1] Quinson — the largest prehistoric museum in Europe.
Many fossils of prehistoric mans and animals, dated 400.000 years ago, found in a cave 35 kilometers east of Cadarache in Provance region of France. This is one of the earliest examples of an organized prehistoric habitat. of prehistoroic mans founf in Europe. Since the first settlements there, the cave has been home to various populations: pre-Neanderthals and Neanderthals, Homo Sapiens, Bronze Age groups, Neolithic herdsmen and Gallo-Roman communities. More info [1] [2]
[SP2] Neanderthals of Saint Césaire, it is now known as la Pierrette, since it is believed to be female. More info [1]
[SP3] This sheetlet issued on May 19 to 22 at Paris by Phil@poste for the French Federation of Philatelic Associations (FFAP) during the stamp show "La passion du timbre : Paris-Philex" and the 89th Congress of the FFAP. The stamp is a personalized one (1st national domestic rate); Dinosaur skeleton, perhaps T. rex, a gasteropod fossil from the Tertiary (Turitella sp.), a cut amethyst crystal and the Buffon's statue (located in the botanical garden of the Natural History Museum at Paris) are on the margin.
Another stamps to consider: Cave painting of prehistoric animals, contributors to Paleontology science, Natural History Museuems
| 14.11.1949 "Famous persons" [A1] | 15.06.1957 "Famous persons" [A2] | 13.04.1969 "Cave painting of Lascaux cave" |
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| 17.01.1978 "Zodiac" [A3] | 17.07.1979 "Tourism" | 12.01.1981 "Historical Constructions" [A4] |
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| 05-06.1993 "200 anniversary of Natural History Museum in Paris" | UNESCO-France 20.10.1993 "Tassili National Park of Algeria" |
27.05.2006 "50 years since discovery of cave painting of prehistoric animals of Grotte de Rouffignac" |
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Notes:[A1] Georges Buffon (1709-1788) depicting on stamp with face value of 12+4F .
[A2] Bernard Palissy (1510–1589) depicting on stamp with face value of 12+3F.
[A3] During
1977 and 1978 (01.04.1977, 17.01.1978, 01.07.1978) Post of
France issued a set
Zodiac definitive stamps. Each time 4 stamps are printed.
Ammonite depicting on the right buttom corner of the Crab stamp. 
[A4] Part of set of 4 stamps
Post stationery of France related to Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
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Personalized postal stationeries: standard postal stationeries with customized cachets, printed by some museums, societies or dealers.
Only few of such covers are listed below
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Commemorative postmarks and meter franking of France related to Paleontology.
- Postmarks and meter franking with direct connection to Paleontology: dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, fossils, prehistoric humans, paleontologists are below
- Postmarks and meter franking of philatelic and fossil trade shows and exhibitions listed separately.
- "Another postmarka and meter franking to consider" cave paintings of prehistoric animals, Natural History Museum, flint tools, contributors to Paleontology and Paleoanthropology sciences, Jean Baptist Lamarck for example. Postmarks of cave painting with modern animals are ignored.<
| 1969 - 2005 "Villers sur Mer, La Cote Fleurie" [PM] [DU] [C1] | 17.05.1969 "200 anniversary of Georges Cuvier" [FDC] | 31.07-04.08.1971 "Centenary of Edouard LARTET" [Sp] |
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| 1976 "IX congress international union prehistoric and protohistoric sciences in Nice, 13-18 September 1976" [Sp] [DU] | 12.09-18.09.1976
"IX congress international
union prehistoric and protohistoric sciences in Nice" [Sp] |
23.04.1977 "Centenary of JEAN.
Bouyssonie, who discovered the Man from La Chapelle
aux Saints in 1908" [Sp] - |
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| 23.05.1981 "Pierre Teilhard de Chardin" [FDC] [5] | 1981 - 1991 "Museum of Prehistory Tautavel" [PM] [DU] [C2] | 1982 - 2001 "200.000 years of BIACHE ST VAAST" [PM] [DU] [C4] |
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| 28.09.1982 "1st
international congress of human paleontology in Nice" |
03.08.1985 "450.00 years of Tautavel man" [Sp] [2] | 13.06.1987 "Open of Fleury dinosaur museum" [C4] |
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| 1987 - 1988 "Geologic Reserve DE LORRAINE" [PM] | 07.11.1987 "Association Nantaise Stones and Fossil" [Sp] | 05.10.1988 "200 anniversary of Boucher de Perthes" [Sp] |
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| 06.10.1988 "200 anniversary of Boucher de Perthes" [Sp] | 14.03.1989 "200 anniversary of Georges Cuvier" [Sp] | 11.06.1989 "200 anniversary of Georges Cuvier" [Sp] |
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| 1989 - 2007 "Thouars history and prehistory" [PM] | 1990-2008 "Geological reserve de HTE Provence" [Sp] | 28.08.1990 "Neanderthal from La-Chapelle-aux-Saints" [Sp] |
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| 20.06.1992 "Prehistoric man of Tautavel" [FDC] [2] | 08.07.1992 "Tautavel Museum" - |
21-22.11.1992 "Prehistoric man of
Tautavel" [Sp] [2] - |
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| 1993-1999 "Nolay in 225 million years" [PM] | 1993-1996 "Geologic Reserve Ligne Maginot " [PM] | 1993 - 1996 "Fleury Museum" [PM] [C4] |
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| 27.01.1994 "3rd Amiens Archeology Film Festival" [Sp] | 1996 -2006 "Fossil museum in Faluns" [PM] | 1998 - 2000 "Dinosaur museum in Esperaza" [PM] |
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| 22-23.12.1999 "Polar expedition of Mammoth" [Sp] | 17.06.2000 "Allosaurus" [FDC] | 19.05.2001 "Allosaurus" [Sp] |
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| 16.06.2001 "Mammoth
expedition" [Sp] - |
2001 "Tourist department
of Privas" [Sp] - |
2004 "Tourist office at Villers sur Mer" [Sp] |
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| 2006
"Cro-Magnon man" - |
07.04.2007 "Open gallery of Georges Cuvier in Montbeliard" [Sp] | 19.04.2008
"Prehistoric
animals" [FDC] - |
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| 19.04.2008
"Prehistoric
animals" [FDC] - |
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| 1.05.2008 "House of Marble and Geology in Rinxent" [Sp] | 22.07.2008 "Tautavel man" [Sp] | 01.06.2010 "Institut de paleontologie humaine" [FDC] |
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| 17.05.2014 "50th
annoiversary of philatelic society in Deigne les Bains" [Sp] - |
22.07.2014 "50 anniversary of Tautavel men discovery" [Sp] | 09.12.2014 "100 anniversary of Saturnin Garimond" [Sp] |
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| 02.02.2018 "150 anniversary since death of Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes" [Sp] | 20.10.2019 "250th anniversary of Georges Cuvier" [Sp] | |
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Commemorative postmarks and meter franking issued for Fossil & Mineral trade shows and philatelic exhibitions
| 1979-1980 "4th
Mineral and Fossils exhibition show in Bourgogne" [Sp] - |
1980 "Mineral and
Fossils exhibition in Saint Nazaire" [Sp] - |
1980 "10th international Mineral and Fossils trade show in Colmar" [Sp] |
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| 1983 "6th biennial Mineral and Fossils exhibition in Bordeaux" [Sp] | 10-11.12. 1983 "6th biennial Mineral and Fossils philatelic exhibition in Bordeaux" [Sp] | 1984 "3rd biennial
Mineral and Fossils exhibition in Thionville" [Sp] - |
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| 1984 "7th Mineral and Fossils exhibition in Bordeaux" [Sp] | 08.09.1984 "3rd biennial Mineral and Fossils exhibition in Thionville" [Sp] - |
07.11.1984 "7th Mineral and Fossils philatelic exhibition in Bordeaux" [Sp] |
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| 1984 "5th
internationall Mineral
and Fossils exhibition in Blagnac" [Sp] - |
1984 "Mineral
and Fossils exhibition in Capbreton" [Sp] - |
1984 "Mineral and Fossils stamp show in Gironde" [Sp] |
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| 1986 "9th Mineral and Fossils exhibition in Poitiers" [Sp] | 1987 "10th Mineral and Fossils exhibition in Poitiers" [Sp] | 1987 "Minerals and Fossils exhibition in Dijon" [Sp] |
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| 1987 "Minerals and Fossils exhibition in Nantes Rollin" [Sp] | 1988 "14th Minerals and Fossils exhibition in Blois Gare" [Sp] | 1988 "Minerals and Fossils exhibition in Dijon" [Sp] |
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| 1988 "3rd Fossil and Mineral exhibition in Rennes Republique" [Sp] | 1988 "13th Fossil and Mineral exhibition in Grenoble" [Sp] | 09.10.1988 "Exhibition Philately and Mineralogy" [Sp] |
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| 1989 "Minerals and Fossils trade show in Dijon" [Sp] | 1989 "12th Minerals and Fossils exhibition in Surgeres" [Sp] | 1990 "13th Minerals and Fossils exhibition in Surgeres" [Sp] - |
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| 1990 "3rd Minerals and Fossils exhibition in Valognes" [Sp] | 1990 "15th Fossil and Mineral exhibition in Grenoble" [Sp] | 1992 "10th Mineral and Fossils exhibition in Thionville" [Sp] |
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| 1993 "18th Mineral and Fossils exhibition in Nancy" [Sp] | 07.11.1993 "Philatelic exhibit in Bernay" [Sp] | 16-17.04.1994 "52nd Regional Philatelic congress in Champagnole" [Sp] |
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| 1994 "Philatelic show
Fossils of France" [Sp] - |
1997 "22nd Minerals and Fossils trade show in St. Nazaire" [Sp] | 26-27.04.1997 "55th Regional Philatelic congress in Montceau les Mines" [Sp] |
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| 07-08.10.2000 "19th Minerals and Fossils exhibition in Nantes" [Sp] | 2000 "25th Minerals and Fossils exhibition in St. Nazaire" [Sp] | 2001 "26th Minerals and Fossils exhibition in St. Nazaire" [Sp] |
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| 12-13.05.2007 "28th Minerals and Fossils exhibition in Thouars" [Sp] | 2008 "Paleomania
exhibition" [Sp] - |
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Some other postmarks to consider: cave painting, buildings of Natural History Museums, flint tools, contributors to Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
| 16.06.1957 "250 anniversary of Georges Buffon" [Sp] | 1960-1962[DU] "Lascaux Cave" [PM] | 1962-1972[DU] "Lascaux Cave" [PM] |
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| 1963-1965[DU] "Centenary of prehistory in Perigord" [PM] [DU] | 1963 - 1983[DU] "LES EYZIES high place of prehistory" [PM] | 1965-1975 "Rouffignac the center of prehisttory" [Sp] [DU] |
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| 1967 -1999[DU] "Grotte de Niaux" [PM] | 13.041968 "Lascaux Cave" [FDC]
| 27.05.1979 "150 anniversary of death Jean Baptist Lamarck" [Sp] |
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| 11.03.1982 - 1986 "Cave painting at Les Eyzies" [PM] | 1984-.2006 "FLAMME ART PREHISTORY CENTER ON MARIANNE LUQUET" [PM] | 26-26.04.1986 "Ppt Recreation Association Forum" [Sp] |
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| 1988 "Auvergene, city in Paleontologic museum" [Sp] | 04.11.1989 " Jean Baptist Lamarck" [Sp] | 13.06.1991 "1st International Symposium on the Protection of Geological Heritage" [Sp] |
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| 19.11.1994 "Archeological club
of
Valence" [Sp] - |
1998 "National
Museum of Natural History" [Sp] - |
13.03.1999 "Fossils and Shells exhibition in Jalons" [Sp] |
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| 2003 "Prehistory museum
of Les Eyzies de Tayac" [Sp] - |
18.08.2005 "150 anniversary of Natural History Museum of Reunion" [Sp] | 19-20.xx.2005 " [Sp] - |
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| 07.03.2006 "Grotte de Rouffignac" [FDC] | 01.06.2010 "Institut de paleontologie humaine" [FDC] | 23.11.2010 "Prehistory museum in les Eyzies" [Sp] |
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| 15.05.2017 "Prehistory museum in les Eyzies" [Sp] | ||
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Notes:
[C1] Villers-sur-Mer is very known in France by many founds fossils, both marine and terrestrial animals such Ammonites , Ichthyosaurus and Dinosaurs. Many of these fossils can be seen in "Paleospace" museum, that opened its doors in 2011.
[C2] The Museum of Prehistory of Tautavel European Center of Prehistory. It is a complex built around the Man of Tautavel. It presents the history of humanity in Europe from the first Europeans to the gates of history. Reconstruction of Tautavel man shown on French stamp in 1992 as well on several postmarks and commemorative covers.
[C3] A 180,000-year- old paleolithic site was discovered there in April 1976, when a Usinor metallurgical plant was built remains of two individuals, Neanderthals , including two incomplete skulls found there.
[C4] The museum of Lodève (formerly called Fleury museum ) is a museum of modern art, archeology, paleontology and natural sciences located in Lodève (Hérault) , in the former mansion of Cardinal Hercules Fleury since 1987 2 . The museum officially opened in 1962, but did not occupy certain areas of the Fleury Hotel until 1972. The museum's collections were essentially enriched by donations, like those of Jacques Audibert and Alice Dardé. The museum focuses its conservation and dissemination efforts on works of art as well as palaeontological and archaeological pieces . More info is on Wikipedia
References:
[R1] More information about France are on Wikipedia WikiTravel Flag Counter
[R2] More information about postal history France on Wikipedia
Links to France post authority and stamps catalog websites are here
Acknowledge:
Many thanks to Dominique Robillard for his help and very valuable feedback.
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