Hungary 2018 "The World of the Bakony Dinosaurs (I)"

<prev

back to index

next>

Issue Date	03.09.2018
ID	Michel: Bl. 419 (6001-6006) ;< Scott: 4493a-f ; Stanley Gibbons: MS5652 ; Yvert et Tellier: BF413 ; Category: pR
Designer	Tibor Zoltán Petényi
Stamps in set	6
Value	HUF 120 - Ajkaceratops kozmai HUF 120 - Pneumatoraptor fodori HUF 120 - Bakonydraco galaczi HUF 120 - Hungarosaurus tormai HUF 120 - Iharkutosuchus makadii HUF 120 - Pannoniasaurus inexpectatus HUF 120 pays the postage of a domestic non-priority postcard or standard letter up to 30 g.
Emission/Type	commemorative
Issue places	Budapest
Size (width x height)	40mm x 30 mm, Mini Sheet size 150mm x 88mm
Layout	Mini Sheet of 6 stamp
Products	FDC x1, Monochrome Mini-Sheet x1
Paper	White, wood-free, surface-treated, gummed stamp paper with optical whitener
Perforation	13x13
Print Technique	Miniature sheet: 4-colour offset ; Monochrome (red) print: 2-colour offset
Printed by	ANY Security Printing Company
Quantity	50,000 Mini Sheets, 2,000 numbered Monochrome Mini-Sheets
Issuing Authority	Magyar Posta

On September 3^rd, 2018, Magyar Posta issued Mini-Sheet about the world of dinosaurs, once the rulers of the Earth’s biosphere.


The following text was copied from the official release of Hungarian Post.
"This miniature sheet takes us back 85 million years in the history of the Earth right to the Late Cretaceous Epoch. In these prehistoric times our planet looked entirely different. The continents had different shapes, the climate was not the same, and the plants and animals inhabiting the land and the seas were most unlike today’s flora and fauna. People did not live yet, so no drawing or photograph could be made of these creatures and everything that we know about these animals is based on the scientific study of fossils found in rocks.

Every geological period has its characteristic organisms. In the epoch visited with these stamps, dinosaurs and their close relatives were the dominant animals. The word dinosaur means fearfully great or terrible lizard or reptile. When in the middle of the 19^th century scientists started using this name, they knew far less than we do today as this expression is not entirely accurate. Some of these beings were in fact giant animals with a frightening appearance, which caught the imagination of many people, but most of them were the size of a human or smaller, so not all were terrible. Not to mention the fact that dinosaurs are only distant relations of today’s lizards. They are much closer to today’s birds, which their similar habits of making a nest among other things suggest.

The miniature sheet presents a few of the dinosaurs and ancient reptiles together with their habitat whose fossils have been found in the Bakony hills in Hungary. The top row of the miniature sheet of six different stamps consists of the quadrupedal herbivorous Ajkaceratops kozmai, the small, at most turkey-sized, probably pack-hunting Pneumatoraptor fodori, and the dragon of the Bakony, the omnivorous flying reptile with a wingspan of about 3.5 to 4 metres named Bakonydraco galaczi. In the bottom row, the 4 to 4.5 metre long, quadrupedal herbivorous armoured dinosaur Hungarosaurus tormai, the at most 1 metre long short-nosed Iharkutosuchus makadii, which taxonomically can be placed among modern crocodiles, and the aquatic apex predator at the time, a mosasaurus that adapted to a freshwater environment, Pannoniasaurus inexpectatus, can be seen. The special postmark shows the beak of the 1.5 metre long, herbivorous Ajkaceratops kozmai with a small horn and characteristic parrot-like bill.

Now look up from the miniature sheet and return to the present. Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for 175 million years before all their species went extinct, except for birds, 66 million years ago. Between their disappearance and the appearance of man, over three hundred times as much time passed than between the appearance of man and the present day. Apart from scientific works, they are the subject of many books, films and games, and they continue to be as popular as ever. "

Products and associated philatelic items

FDC	First-Day-of-Issue Postmarks	Monochrome Print
Example of Circulated Covers

References

Technical details and official press release: Hungarian Post (PDF)

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for reviewing the draft page .

<prev

back to index

next>