Stamps with dinosaurs (and other fossils)


Since 1951 stamps with fossils have been issued.

The first one came from India, issued 13.1.1951, and shows fossil elephants.


19 months later it was followed by the first ammonite (Berbericeras sikikensis) from Algeria (issued 11.8.1952)


The 3rd stamp was issued 15.1.1955 in USA and shows the famous collector Mr. Peale. On the background to the right you will find a skeleton of a mastodon (Mammut americanus), which found its way via London to Darmstadt in Germany and is still exhibited at the Hessisches Landesmuseum





The first dinosaur is from China, issued 15.4.1958. The set of 3 stamps shows Lufengosaurus, a trilobite and the giant deer of China.

Meanwhile innumerable stamps have been issued by post offices all over the world, some of them only for collectors.
Dinosaurs on stamps (complete list)


1965 the first stamp with a fossil man was issued in Tanzania.
Fossil man on stamps





Stamps with fossil plants


1979 and 1998 stamps were issued by the "Deutsche Bundespost" in Germany showing fossils from the Messel Pit Fossil Site, which became World Heritage Site in December1995.


The original fossils (bat depicted on this stamps are exhibited at the famous Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfurt am Main.


All internet pages on stamps in German:



Updated July 2, 1999, Gerhard Winter