India 1951 "Centeray of Geological Survey of India"
Issue Date |
13.01.1951 |
ID |
Michel: 218 Scott: 232 Stanley
Gibbons: 334Yvert: 31 UPU: N/A Category: pR |
Author |
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Stamps in set |
1 |
Value |
Anas 2- Stegodon ganesa |
Size (width x height) |
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Layout |
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Products |
FDC x1 |
Paper |
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Perforation |
13 |
Print Technique |
Offset, purple and black colors |
Printed by |
watermarked |
Quantity |
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Issuing Authority |
Indian Post |
On commemoration of Indian Geological Survey centenary on 13
th January 1951 Indian
Post released the stamp shows 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 Paise the hundredth fraction of Rupee the currency.
16 Anas are equal to One Rupee.
The stamp is based on picture published by Henry Fairfield OSBORN in "Proboscidea.
A monograph of the discovery, evolution, migration and extinction of
the mastodonts and elephants of the world. Vol . 2, Stegodontoidea,
Elephantoidea.", issued in New-York, USA in 1942.
(1
st edition of the book from 1936, 878 pages, can be downloaded from
Open Library website).
Note:
On March 4, 2001 a another stamp was issued by the Department of Post, Government of India,
to commemorate 150 anniversary of Indian Geological Survey.
This time geological motive has been choosed.
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).
Stegodon ganesa
In 1928, 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 to the Permo-Carboniferous time (355 - 250 million years).
Stegodons are primarily an Asiatic group of mammutid origin, 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, stegodonts 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 dwarfing.
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 |
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FDC with regular postmark |
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Produced by: Bombay Philatelic Company |
Produced by: Novelties Company |
Produced by: the Philatelic Club of Ahmedabad |
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Example of Circulated Covers |
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Acknowledgements:
Many thanks to the fellow stamp collectors from India:
Kasinath Ra and
Ganesh Kulo, for their help finding
additional information about the stamp.
References:
Wikipedia,
Vigyan Prasar Science Portal
49, Vol. India, of Socienty Paleontological The Journal.