India 1951 "Centeray of Geological Survey of India"

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Issue Date 13.01.1951
ID Michel: 218; Scott: 232; Stanley Gibbons: 334; Yvert et Tellier: 31; Category: pR
Design
Stamps in set 1
Value Anas 2- Stegodon ganesa
Emission/Type commemorative
Places of issue
Size (width x height) 40mm x 30mm
Layout
Products FDC x4 - all personalized
Paper watermarked
Perforation 13
Print Technique Offset lithography, purple and black colors
Printed by Security Printing Press, Nashik
Quantity 8.000.000
Issuing Authority Indian Post
Stegodons on stamps of India 1951

On the commemoration of the Centenary of the Indian Geological Survey on 13th January, 1951, the Indian Post released the stamp showing two individuals of Stegodon ganesa, the first ever reconstruction of a prehistoric animal on a stamp.
It was valued 2 Anas. Ana the olden Indian coin was in use before 1956. In 1956 Indian Government introduced the Paise the hundredth fraction of Rupee the currency. 16 Anas are equal to One Rupee.
150th Anniversary of Geological Survey of India stamp of India from 2001
150th Anniversary of Geological Survey of India stamp of India from 2001, MiNr.: 1826, Scott: 1886.
Headquarters of Geological Survey of India, Jawaharlal Nehru road in Kolkata
Headquarters of Geological Survey of India, Jawaharlal Nehru road in Kolkata. Image credit: Wikimedia, Photographer: Pinakpani.

On March 4th, 2001, another stamp was issued by the Department of Post, Government of India, to commemorate the 150 anniversary of Indian Geological Survey. This time, a geological motif was chosen instead. The four colour stamp shows bauxite (aluminium ore), chalcopyrite (copper ore) and psilomelane (manganese ore). The denomination of the stamp is 300 paise (Rs.3.00).

The image of the Stegodons on the stamp is reproduction of the illustration published by Henry Fairfield Osborn (an American paleontologist who was the president of the American Museum of Natural History) in "Proboscidea", as it was mentioned in the announcement of Indian Daily Mail from December 2nd 1950:

Postage Stamp To Mark Centenary Of Geological Survey Of India
NEW DELHI, Dev. l. —
A special postage stamp to mark the centenary of the Geological Surve of India will be issued in January 1951, the Posts and Telegraphs Department. The stamp, priced at two annas will be in Iwo colours, containing an imprint of Stegodon Ganesa, an extinct species of fauna. Stegodon Ganesa, a predecessor of the elephant, inhabited the forests of the Himalayan foot-hills during the Pilocene-Pleistocene Age, about 15 million years ago. The animali which was huge in size, had massive tusks nearly 10,5 feet in length and 2,25 feet in diameter at the base. With the advent of the Ice Age in the late Pioistocene Period, Stegodon Ganesa became extinct giving Place to the elephent after recession of glacial conditions. Remains of these extinct animals in various stages of preservation have been unearthed from the Siwalink Hills. The trustees of the American Natural History Museum have kindly allowed the use of a drawing of Stegodon Ganesa, which first appeared in one of their publications.


Stegodon Ganesa illustration in monograph of Henry Fairfield OSBORN, published in 1942
Stegodon Ganesa painted by Marget Flinsch under direction of Henry Fairfield Osborn, published as figure 755 in "Proboscidea : a monograph of the discovery, evolution, migration and extinction of the mastodonts and elephants of the world", by Henry Fairfield Osborn, Vol . 2, issued in New-York, USA in 1942. (biodiversitylibrary.org)





Stegodon ganesa

In 1928, a 3 metre long fossil tusk of an elephantine mammal Stegedon ganesa was found in India by Dr. Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia (October 25, 1883 - June 15, 1969) who pursued his personal research on stratigraphy, structure and palaeontology of the Kashmir Himalaya with single-minded devotion.
Having a very keen eye for observation, he worked towards identification of broad structural elements of the NW Himalaya.
The fossil tusk is now kept at the Museum of the Geology Department of the Jammu University. The discovery of this skull, which was found in association with fossil ganoid fish and pteridospermous plants, led to the fixing of the age of an important geological rock formation in the Kashmir Himalaya.

Dr. Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia on stamp of India 1984 Stegodon truck doscovered by Dr. Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia
Dr. Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia on stamp of India 1984 MiNr.: 1003, Scott: 1068B, Stegodon tusk discovered by Dr. Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia. Image credit: "Fossil elephants from the Indian sub-continent and their tusks: a review", by Y. C. Rai. Published in Journal of the Paleontological Society of India, vol. 49, 2004, pp. 169-188.


Stegodons are primarily an Asiatic group of mammutid origin.
Stegodon Ganesa on postage stamp of Nepal 2015
Stegodon Ganesa on postage stamp of Nepal 2015, MiNr.: 1180, Scott: 983.
This family is believed to have evolved sometime by the middle Miocene, nearly 15 million years ago and became extinct by the late Pleistocene about 30,000 - 40,000 years ago. Stegodons appear to be transitional between true mastodons on the one hand and true elephants on the other.
Like elephants, Stegodons must have been good swimmers. Their fossils are frequently encountered on Asian islands, which even during periods of low sea-level (during the cold phases of the Pleistocene) were not connected by land bridges with the Asian continent. A general evolutionary trend in large mammals on islands is island dwarfism. The smallest dwarf species, Stegodon sondaari, known from 900,000 year old layers on the Indonesian island of Flores, had an estimated body weight of 300 kg, smaller than a water buffalo.
A medium to large sized stegodont, Stegodon florensis, with a body weight of about 850 kg, appeared about 850,000 years ago, and then also evolved into a dwarf form, Stegodon florensis insularis.
The latter was contemporaneous with the hominin discovered in 2003, Homo floresiensis, and disappeared about 12,000 years ago.
Stegodon tetrabelodon syrticus was a spectacular late Miocene species with four tusks described from a partial cranium and jaws found in North Africa.


Products and associated philatelic items

The commemorative postmark of the Indian Geological Survey FDC with commemorative postmark
The commemorative postmark of the Indian Geological Survey Stegodons on FDC of India 1951 with special commemorative postmark Stegodons on FDC of India 1951
FDC with regular postmark
Stegodons on FDC of India 1951 Stegodons on FDC of India 1951 Stegodons on FDC of India 1951
Produced by Bombay Philatelic Company Produced by Novelties Company Produced by the Philatelic Club of Ahmedabad
Example of Circulated Covers
Stegodons stamp on circulated cover from India to Glasgow in the Great Britain Stegodons stamp on circulated cover
The letter was cancelled with "Experimental P.O."
An experimental Post Office is opened for a period of 6 months in an area where it appears services are needed. If it gets enough business, it becomes permanent. If it does not, it can be extended up to 2 years before it is made permanent or closed.



Acknowledgements:

  • Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice, PhD Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, USA, for review of a draft of this article and his very valuable comments.
  • Many thanks to the fellow stamp collectors from India: Kasinath Ra and Ganesh Kulo, for their help finding additional information about the stamp.


References:
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