Hungary

Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, fossils, Natural History Museums, anthropologists on stamps and postmarks of Hungary

<< previous country back to index next country >>


Contents:
Hungary (Hungarian: Magyarország), is a country in Central Europe, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Romania to the east, Serbia to the south, Croatia to the southwest, Slovenia to the west, Austria to the northwest, and Ukraine to the northeast.
The country's capital and largest city is Budapest. Hungary is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the Visegrád Group, and the Schengen Area. The official language is Hungarian, which is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.
After World War II, Hungary came under the influence of the Soviet Union, which contributed to the establishment of a four-decade-long communist dictatorship (1947–1989). On 23 October 1989, Hungary again became a democratic parliamentary republic. [R1]

The postal history of Hungary is strongly linked to the history of Hungary. Mail delivery on a countrywide basis was first organized by the Habsburgs under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Until 1871, Hungary used the same stamps as other territories of the Empire. The postal systems of Austria and Hungary were formally separated following the Compromise of 1867, with both becoming fully independent after 1908.
The Hungarian Post was nationalized after 1947. Until 1990, the Post Office controlled not only mail and package delivery, but also the full range of telecommunications.
When the Post Office was split into separate companies, Magyar Posta JSC was established to handle postal administration. [R2]

Notes:
* There are no international country name on stamps of Hungary. MAGYAR POSTA used on stamps before 1992 and MAGYARORSZAG (Hungarian name of the country) later on.
** Hungarian stamps from 1957 to 1992 are available in two variations: perforated and imperforated





Official stamps directly related to Paleontology and Paleoanthropology: fossils, dinosaurs, prehistoric plants, skulls of Neanderthal

21.09.1969 "100th anniversary of Hungarian State Institute of Geology" 29.12.1989 "Medical Pioneers" [1] 16.11.1990 "Prehistoric animals"
Fossils on stamps of Hungary 1969 Anthropologist Rudolf Virchow among other medicine Pioneers on stamp of Hungary 1989 Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on stamps of Hungary 1990
27.10.1993 "Prehistoric Man" 09.05.2002 "200th anniversary of Hungarian Museum of Natural History: domestic animals" [2] 08.06.2016 "Geological Treasures"
Reconstruction and fossil of Homo erectus on stamps of Hungary 1993 Fossils of Tyrannosaurus, Ammonite and flint tool on margin of Souvenir-Sheer of Hungary 2002 Plant fossils on stamps of Hungary 2016
03.09.2018 "THE WORLD OF THE BAKONY DINOSAURS (I)" [3] 04.03.2020 "THE WORLD OF THE BAKONY DINOSAURS (II)" [3]
Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on stamps of Hungary 2018 Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on stamps of Hungary 2020

Notes:
Anthropologist Rudolf Virchow among other medicine Pioneers on stamp of Hungary 1989 Anthropologist Rudolf Virchow among other medicine Pioneers on stamp of Hungary 1989

Skull of modern human (Homo sapiens sapiens) on the left, Skull of Neanderthal on the right.


Anthropologist Rudolf Virchow among other medicine Pioneers on stamp of Hungary 1989 MiNr.: 4063, Scott: 3216
[1] The stamp with face value of 6ft shows German pathologist and anthropologist Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902) and some bones of Homo sapiens neanderthaltnsis.
Virchow became one of the leading opponents on the debate over the authenticity of the Neanderthal, discovered in 1856 in Germany, as distinct species and ancestral to modern humans. He himself examined the original fossil in 1872, and presented his observations before the Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte. He stated that the Neanderthal had not been a primitive form of human, but an abnormal human being, who, judging by the shape of his skull, had been injured and deformed, and considering the unusual shape of his bones, had been arthritic, rickety, and feeble. With such an authority, the fossil was rejected as new species. With this reasoning, Virchow "judged Darwin an ignoramus and Haeckel a fool and was loud and frequent in the publication of these judgments." [R3]

[2] Fossils of Tyrannosaurus, Ammonite and flint tool from the collection of the museum are depicted on the margin of the Souvenir-Sheet.

[3] Not all animals on these stamps are dinosaurs, but unfortunately many Post Authorities of the world made the same mistake. The better name of these stamps should be "The world of the Bakony prehistoric animals".



Other stamps of Hungary to consider: Natural History Museums

20.08.1954 "5 years of Constitution" [A1] 30.06.1987 "Antarctic Explorers" [A3] 03.06.2019 "150th anniversary of the Hungarian Royal Geological Institute" [A2]
Hungarian National Museum on stamp of Hungary 1954 Robert Falcon Scott among other Antarctic Explorers on stamp of Hungary 1987 Hungarian Royal Geological Institute on stamp of Hungary 2019

Notes:
Hungarian National Museum on stamp of Hungary 1954
Hungarian National Museum on stamp of Hungary 1954, MiNr.: 1384, Scott: 1085.
Ammonite and sand dollar on illustration of FDC of Hugary 2019
Ammonite and sand dollar on illustration of FDC of Hugary 2019.
Robert Falcon Scott on stamp of Hugary 1987
Robert Falcon Scott on stamp of Hugary 1987, MiNr.: 3911A, Scott: 3079.
[A1] The blue stamp shows Hungarian National Museum.
The Animal Bones Archaeological Collection at the Hungarian National Museum was created by Sándor Bökonyi in 1953, as the fifth distinct collection in the Department of Archaeology.

The basis for the collection was provided by animal bone remains transferred from the Prehistoric Collection and pieces recovered during archaeological excavations at that time. The collection contains 78,513 examples of animal bone from a total of 388 find-sites. The Hungarian National Museum’s Animal Bones Archaeological Collection contains remains from every large mammal species inhabiting the Carpathian Basin in the last 12,000 years, include original fossils of prehistoric humans depicted on stamps in 1993.
Moreover, part of the collection consists of documented bone remains from domestic animals kept by the peoples living in the region, including livestock owned by the early Hungarians. [R5]

[A2] 150th anniversary of the Hungarian Royal Geological Institute.
The Hungarian Royal Geological Institute was the first state center for geological research in Hungary, whose foundation was approved by the Emperor Francis Joseph.
During the one hundred and fifty years of its existence, the institute has undergone numerous transformations and currently it operates under the name of the Mining and Geological Survey of Hungary.
The first day cover shows palaeontological finds (Ammonite and Sand Dollar) and the postmark has a stylized drawing of the building’s facade.

[A3] One of the stamps with the face value of 4fr. shows Robert Falcon Scott.
Robert Falcon Scott CVO (6 June 1868 – 29 March 1912) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition of 1910–1912.

Scott and his companions died on the second expedition. When Scott and his party's bodies were discovered, 16kg of Glossopteris (an extinct beech-like tree from 250 million years ago) fossils from the Queen Maud Mountains found next to their bodies, which they had dragged on hand sledges.
These fossils were promised to Marie Stopes (shown on UK stamp in 2008) to provide evidence for Eduard Suess's idea that Antarctica had once been part of an ancient super-continent named Gondwanaland (now Gondwana).
For more details about Robert Falcon Scott, please go here.




Postal Stationeries related to Paleontology: prehistoric animals

15.08.1981 "110th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Istvan Vitalis" [PS2] 29.10.1996 "Nature Science Museum" [PS1]
Istvan Vitalis on postal stationery of Hungary 1981 Mammoth on a cachet of postal stationery of Hungary 1996

Notes:
[PS1] Mammoth on a cachet of postal stationery of Nature Science Museum. Paleontologic collection of the museum, include dinosaur and Ammonite are depicted on postage stamps in 2002.

Istvan Vitalis on postal stationery of Hungary 1981
The postal stationery exist in two variation of the imprinted stamp - the face value position.
[PS2] Istvan Vitalis (1871 – 1947) was a geologist, palaeontologist, university professor, and a full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
He contributed to the development of coal mining in Hungary with his coal field surveys in many parts of the Carpathian Basin, and his paleontological research is also significant.
The fossil on the bottom-left side is an Eocene shell.
During his career , he also dealt with paleontology, describing shark teeth from the Lajta Mountains and goat claws from Lake Balaton. Vitalis discovered previously unknown species in the sedimentary rocks of the Sopron region, such as some representatives of the Pannonian Sea mussel fauna (e.g. Limnocardium soproniense, Congeria soproniensis), as well as the snail genera Orygoceras and Baglivia (the latter he defined as a fossil marking the transition between the Sarmatian and Pannonian stages).
In 1981 Vitalis's bust was unveiled at the Nagyegyhaza mine.



Commemorative postmarks of Hungary related to Paleontology and Paleoanthropology: fossils, dinosaurs, prehistoric plants, skulls of Neanderthal

Legend is here
21.09.1969 "100 anniversary of Hungarian State Institute of Geology" [FDC] 19.04.1977 "Eocene Program Tatabanya Coal Mines" [Sp] 29.08.1982 "National Mineral Enthusiasts' Meeting" [Sp]
Ammonite on commemorative postmark of Hungary 1969 Ecocen shell on commemorative postmark of Hungary 1977 Ammonite on commemorative postmark of Hungary 1982
29.08.1983 " " [Sp] 16.11.1990 "Prehistoric animals" [FDC] 27.10.1993 "Prehistoric Man" [FDC]
Dinosaur on commemorative postmark of Hungary 1983 Dinosaur on commemorative postmark of Hungary 1990 Neanderthal skulls on commemorative postmark of Hungary 1993
08.06.2016 "Geological Treasures" [FDC] 03.09.2018 "THE WORLD OF THE BAKONY DINOSAURS (I)" [FDC] 04.03.2020 "THE WORLD OF THE BAKONY DINOSAURS (II)" [FDC]
Prehistoric plant on commemorative postmark of Hungary 2016 Dinosaur chrest plant on commemorative postmark of Hungary 2018 Dinosaur on commemorative postmark of Hungary 2020



Other commemorative postmarks of Hungary to consider: Hungarian Royal Geological Institute

Legend is here
03.06.2019 "150th anniversary of the Hungarian Royal Geological Institute" [FDC] [A2]
Hungarian Royal Geological Institute on postmark of Hungary 2019



References:



Acknowledgement:
  • Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for reviewing the draft page and his valuable comments.
  • Many thanks to fellow collectors Mr. Alexander Pedchenko from Russia, Eli Moallem from Israel and Maxim Romashchenko from Canada, for their help in finding some missing philatelic stuff of Hungary.
  • Many thanks to fellow collectors Mr. Kallai Laszlo from Hungary, for his help in finding details information about postal stationery "110th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Istvan Vitalis".



<< previous country back to index next country >>