Azerbaijan 1994 "Prehistoric animals"

Issue Date	15.09.1994
ID	Michel: 153-160, Bl.15; Scott: 446-452, 453; Stanley Gibbons: 170-176, MS177; Yvert: 156-162, BF9 ; Category: pR
Designer
Stamps in set	7 + 1 Souvenir-Sheet
Values	5 m. - Coelophysis, Segisaurus 10 m. - Pentaceratops, Tyrannosaurids 20 m. - Segnosaurus, Oviraptor 25 m. - Albertosaurus, Corythosaurus 30 m. - Iguanodon 50 m. - Stegosaurus, Allosaurus 80 m. - Tyrannosaurus, Saurolophus 100 m. - Yanghuanosausus, Phobetor and Omeizaurs
Emission/Type	commemorative
Issue place	Baku
Size (width x height)	40 mm x32 mm, Souvenir-Sheet 80 mm x 62 mm
Layout	40 stamps (5x8) in sheet
Products	FDC x4, Booklet x1
Paper	Coated
Perforation	14x14
Print Technique	Offset, multicolor
Printed by
Quantity	stamps: 531000, 531000, 541000, 541000, 531000, 531000, 81000, Souvenir-Sheet: 81000.
Issuing Authority	Azemarka

In September 1994, the Postal Authority of Azerbaijan, Azemarka, issued a nice set of 7 stamps and one block depicting various dinosaurs and one pterosaur. Unfortunately, no fossilized remains of these animals have been found in the country, because during the Mesozoic Azerbaijan was covered by a deep ocean.

Note:
The Tyrannosaurus on the 10 M. stamp is shown with four fingers instead of two, the long crest of the animal on the 80 M. stamp marks it as Parasaurolophus.

During the Mesozoic era, the territory of modern Azerbaijan was covered by a sea, therefore dinosaurian fossils are very rare in this country. Despite this, Mosasaur, Plesiosaur, Pterosaurian, and Ichthyosaur fossils are known in Azerbaijan. The major Paleontological sites of the country are:

• The Binagadi asphalt lake with fossils dated to Cenozoic Era (Quaternary period).
• The Gnishik Formation with fossils dated to the Wordian age of the Permian period (266-264 million year ago).
• The Karabaglyar Formation with fossils dated to the Changhsingian age of the Permian period (254-251 million year ago) and the Induan age of the Triassic period (251 million years ago), straddling the Permian-Triassic boundary (251-252 million years ago).

Products

FDC	Booklet	Color variation
	All stamps are in the MNH conditions and all of them are from the bottom side of a sheet. The block is put in a special pocket as shown here	The cancelled Souvenir-Sheet (CTO) has either omitted or shifted color
First-Day-of-Issue Postmark	Example of circulated letters

References

• Mesozoic fossils of Azerbaijan: Fossil Wiki, Wikipedia.
• Geology of Azerbaijan: Wikipedia.
• Paleontology of Azerbaijan: Wikipedia.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for his help to find an information for this article, the draft page review and his very valuable comments.