Tuesday, 3 October 2023

3019) Fox Whale, Woolly Mammoth and Sabre-toothed Cat, Netherlands: "Prehistoric Animals Stamp Series": Post NL (Netherlands Post) has issued the first three Stamp Sheets in a series of 12 Stamp sheets featuring extinct animal species, fossils of which were found in the Netherlands: Date of Stamp Sheets issue: 13.06.2022:

3019) Fox Whale, Woolly Mammoth and Sabre-toothed Cat, Netherlands: "Prehistoric Animals Stamp Series": Post NL (Netherlands Post) has issued the first three Stamp Sheets in a series of 12 Stamp sheets featuring extinct animal species, fossils of which were found in the Netherlands: Date of Stamp Sheets issue: 13.06.2022:

About "Prehistoric Animals Stamp Series" - Set I:

On 13.06.2023, in the new "Prehistoric Animals Stamp Series", Post NL (Netherlands Post) has issued the first three stamp sheets featuring the Fox Whale, the Woolly Mammoth and the Sabre-toothed Cat.

Each stamp sheet consisted of five stamps featuring the animals and their fossils. 

The Prehistoric Animals Stamp Series comprises 12 stamp sheets in all

Every quarter, PostNL will issue three stamp sheets at a time

The next issue dates are 26.09.2023 (Nothosaurus, Woolly Rhinoceros and Aurochs), 14.11.2023 (Blunt-snouted Dolphin, Mastodon and Great Auk) and 19.03.2024 (Large Baleen Whale, Giant Beaver and Steppe Bison). 

The denomination on these stamps is ‘1’, the denomination for items weighing up to 20g with destinations in the Netherlands. The design of the stamps was created by studio026 in Velp. 

The prehistoric Stamp Series - will represent animals from various geological epochs:

The Prehistoric Animals stamps will depict animals from various geological epochs, such as the Nothosaurus from the Triassic (245 million years ago), the Large Baleen Whale from the Miocene (8.7-8.1 million years ago), the Blunt-snouted Dolphin from the Pliocene (3 million years ago), the Woolly Mammoth from the Pleistocene (2 million years ago) and the Great Auk from the Holocene (approximately 5,000 years ago). 

All 12 prehistoric animals featured on the stamps inhabited the area that is now The Netherlands

Their presence has been inferred from fossils found in Dutch soil, including in the North Sea, in the Eastern and Western Scheldt, along rivers and in quarries. The fossils predominantly comprise bones, skulls, jaws, teeth, molars and horns. Based on the shape of the fossils, paleontologists can deduce how large the animals were and their other external features. 

Comparison with surviving related species also provides useful information.

Each stamp sheet in the Prehistoric Animals Stamp Series includes five personal stamps in five different designs.

Three stamps feature various images of the prehistoric animal in its natural habitat

The other two stamps feature fossils of the same animal, surrounded by drawn earth layers in which that fossil was found

The sheet edge features one of the animal photos in large. This photo runs underneath the stamps. 

Each stamp sheet has a base colour referring to the geological epoch in which the prehistoric animal existed

The timeline of all these epochs is shown vertically on the left-hand side of the stamp sheet, above the series title. The name of the prehistoric animal appears on each stamp and in the top right-hand corner of the sheet. 

The bottom right-hand corner features a short text about the species and its fossils.

The font used for the denomination 1 and Nederland was designed in 2018 by type designer Martin Majoor from Arnhem. 

The Square 721 (a version of Eurostile by Turin-based type designer Aldo Novarese, 1962, published by Bitstream) was used for the title and the Akzidenz Grotesk (H. Berthold AG from Berlin, 1896) was used for the body text. 

Fraunces (Phaedra Charles for Undercase Type from New York, 2020) was used as the serif font.

All of the animals featured on the Prehistoric animals stamps have become extinct – some of them millions of years ago. However, science can still deduce from the fossils what the animals roughly looked like. 

After Velp-based studio026 was commissioned to design 12 stamp sheets about prehistoric animals exhibited at the Natural History Museum Rotterdam.

Life-like models and drawings were combined with fossils from the Natural History Museum Rotterdam. From those combinations, 12 prehistoric animals were selected, all of which lived on Dutch soil at one stage.

The Stamp Sheets:

The Sabre-toothed Cat, also called "Sabre-toothed tiger" or "Sabre-toothed Lion", was an extinct catlike carnivore belonging to either the extinct family Nimravidae or the subfamily Machairodontinae of the cat family (Felidae). 

Named for the pair of elongated bladelike canine teeth in their upper jaw, they are often called sabre-toothed tigers or sabre-toothed lions, although the modern lion and tiger are true cats of the subfamily Felinae.

Sabre-toothed cats existed from the Eocene through the Pleistocene Epoch (56 million to 11,700 years ago). According to the fossil record, the Nimravidae were extant from about 37 million to 7 million years ago. Only distantly related to felids, they include the genera Hoplophoneus, Nimravus, Dinictis, and Barbourofelis. 

The Machairodontinae, extant from about 12 million to less than 10,000 years ago, include the more familiar Smilodon as well as Homotherium and Meganteron. 

Sabre-toothed cats roamed North America and Europe throughout the Miocene and Pliocene epochs (23 million to 2.6 million years ago). By Pliocene times, they had spread to Asia and Africa. During the Pleistocene, sabre-toothed cats were also present in South America.

The most widely known genus of sabre-toothed cats is Smilodon, the “sabre-toothed tiger.” A large, short-limbed cat that lived in North and South America during the Pleistocene Epoch, it was about the size of the modern African lion (Panthera leo) and represents the peak of sabre-tooth evolution.

The extinction pattern of the last of the sabre-toothed cats closely followed that of the mastodons. As those elephant-like animals became extinct in the Old World during the late Pliocene, sabre-toothed cats died out also. In North and South America, however, where mastodons persisted throughout the Pleistocene, sabre-toothed cats continued successfully to the end of the epoch.

Fox Whale:

The Westerschelde estuary near the border of the Netherlands and Belgium is known for its fossil contents since the 17th century. Fossil bones are located at great depth in this busy shipping lane and are therefore very hard to collect and study. 

In 2014-2018, the Natural History Museum Rotterdam, working closely with local fishermen, recovered an amazing treasure of 5,000 vertebrate fossils of whales and terrestrial mammals.

The major scientific discovery of the expedition was the recognition of a small area in the Westerschelde that yielded large and heavy blocks of sandstone with unique and exquisitely preserved marine mammal fauna. 

The sandstone blocks contain whale skulls and vertebrae which are still more or less in correct anatomical order. Almost all of the recovered whale and dolphin species were hitherto unknown to scientists. 

Study of fossil single-celled organisms from the sediment has shown that the fossils are about 7.5 to 8.8 million years old.

Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius):

"Woolly Mammoth", also called "Northern Mammoth" or "Siberian mammoth", was an extinct species of elephant found in fossil deposits of the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs (from about 2.6 million years ago to the present) in Europe, northern Asia, and North America. 

The Woolly Mammoth was known for its large size, fur, and imposing tusks. Thriving during the Pleistocene ice ages, woolly mammoths died out after much of their habitat was lost as Earth’s climate warmed in the aftermath of the last ice age. The species is named for the appearance of its long thick coat of fur.

Woolly Mammoths stood about 3 to 3.7 metres (about 10 to 12 feet) tall and weighed between 5,500 and 7,300 kg (between about 6 and 8 tons). 

They had a yellowish-brown undercoat about 2.5 cm (about 1 inch) thick beneath a coarser outer covering of dark brown hair that grew more than 70 cm (27.5 inches) long in some individuals. Under the extremely thick skin was a layer of insulating fat at times 8 cm (3 inches) thick.
 
Its skull was high and domelike, with large downward-directed curved tusks. The Woolly Mammoth’s teeth were made up of alternating plates of enamel and a denture that often became worn down by constant back-to-front chewing motions. 

The Woolly Mammoth’s ears were small, which exposed a smaller amount of surface area and was likely an adaptation to the cold climates in the Northern Hemisphere. A mound of fat, which served as an energy and water reserve, was present as a hump on the back.

The Woolly Mammoth lived in steppe tundra habitat (also called mammoth steppe, an ecosystem made up of low shrubs, sedges, and grasses), which was widespread across Eurasia and North America during the Pleistocene

It was herbivorous, consuming the stems and leaves of tundra plants and shrubs.

Mammoths are closely related to present-day Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), and these groups broke away from their last common ancestor about six million years ago

Morphological and genetic studies suggest that Woolly Mammoths evolved from Steppe Mammoths (Mammuthus trogontherii) between about 800,000 and 600,000 years ago in Asia. 

Woolly Mammoths were largely extinct by about 10,000 years ago, due to the pressures of a warming climate (which reduced the habitat of these cold-adapted mammals) combined with hunting by humans. 

About the Natural History Museum, Rotterdam:

The Natural History Museum Rotterdam has its origins in collecting animals, shells, fossils and other naturalia from the collection of Dr A. B. van Deinse. 

The museum was founded in 1927

Since 1987, it has been based in Villa Dijkzigt on Westzeedijk in Museumpark (an urban park in Rotterdam). 

The Natural History Museum Rotterdam has a special place in the Rotterdam cultural sector and plays a pioneering role among Dutch Natural History museums across the region. The museum attracts over 40,000 visitors each year.

Technical details:

Issue Date: 13.06.2023

Designer: studio026, Velp

Process: Offset

Colours: Cyan, magenta, yellow, black (CMYK)

Size:

Stamp size: 30.00 mm x 40.00 mm (w x h), 

Sheet size: 170.00 mm x 122.00 mm (w x h)

Values: Denomination "1" for post weighing up to 20g with destinations within the Netherlands.





For other interesting posts from the Faroe Islands:





8) "Organic Art", Faroe Islands: Posta/Postverk Foroya (Postal Works of the Faroes Islands) has issued a set of six stamps of 29.00 DKK (x 3 Stamps) and 19.00 DKK (x 3 Stamps) depicting Organic art by three artists in the Faroes: Date of Stamp set issue: 16.05.2022

9) Faroese Minerals, Faroe Islands: Posta (Faroe Islands Post) has issued a Miniature Sheet (MS) of stamps depicting Calcite and Copper: Date of Stamps issue: 24.10.2022

10) Faroe Islands Banknotes New Series - 2012: An updated version of Faroese Banknote Series with new security features was introduced into circulation: Banknotes were printed by Danmarks Nationalbank

11) Cairn, Faroe Islands: Posta (Faroese Post) has issued a postage stamp of 100.00 DKK (Danish Kroners) celebrating the significance of Cairns all over the Foroe Islands: Date of Stamp issue: 10.08.2023

Posts on Aruba on this blog:

 1) A New 2019 Fourth Series of Banknotes, Aruba, issued by the Central Bank of Aruba (Centrale Bank van Aruba) on 04.06.2019 comprising five denominations with the theme of "Endangered Flora and Fauna of Aruba" and historic monuments and landmarks










Dutch Castles Coin Series:









10) Poptaslot Castle, The Netherlands: The Tenth and second last Coin to be released in the "Dutch Castles Coin Series": A Silver Ducat Trade Coin with a history spanning over 350 years, minted by the Royal Dutch Mint (RDM): Year of Coin issue: 2023 

11) Kuinderburcht Bridge, The Netherlands: The Eleventh and last Coin to be released in the "Dutch Castles Coin Series": A Silver Ducat Trade Coin with a history spanning over 350 years, minted by the Royal Dutch Mint: Year of Coin issue: 2023

For other interesting posts on Belgium & Luxembourg Coins and Stamps:


5) City of Bruges (or Brugge), Belgium: 20 Years as UNENCO World Heritage Site: A 20 Euro Silver Proof Coin issued by the Royakl Dutch Mint under licencing of the Royal Belgian Mint, on behalf of the National Bank of Belgium: Coin issue date: 26.02.2020

6) 100 Years of Nature & Environment Protection, Luxembourg: Commemorating the Centenary Anniversary of the "Letzebuerger Natur a Vulleschutsliga a.s.b.l. (Luxembourg Nature and Bird Protection Society):A 0.80 Euro Stamp issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Date of stamp issue: 10.03.2020

7) Celebrating 25 Years of listing on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Luxembourg: A Commemorative Stamp of 0.80 Euro issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Stamp issue date: 10.03.2020













23) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations), Belgium: Bpost (Belgian Post) has issued a Stamp Sheetlet which showcases a fingerprint in which a face is hidden as a symbolic representation of the theme - "identity": Date of Stamps issue: 20.03.2023

24) Asteroid Day (or "International Asteroid Day), Luxembourg: POST Luxembourg (formerly known as Entreprise des Postes et Telecommunications) has issued a postage stamp of L50g (the rate for a standard letter domestic postage): Date of Stamp issue: 16.05.2023

25) SABENA (National Airline Carries), Belgium: Centenary Celebrations - 1923-2023): The Royal Dutch Mint (RDM) in association with the Royal Belgian Mint (RBM) has minted a 20 Euro Silver Crown Coin which marks the centenary of the founding of the country's first airline carrier: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2023

26) 130th Anniversary of the Art Nouveau Movement, Belgium: 130th Anniversary Celebrations (1893-2023): Commemorative 2 Euro Coins minted by the Royal Dutch Mint (RDM) at their facilities in Houten, Netherlands, in association with the Royal Belgian Mint (RBM) celebrating the milestone: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2023

Links:

For other interesting posts on issues from the Royal Dutch Mint, Netherlands and PostNL, please visit the following links:



10) First Atlases, Netherlands: Commemorating 450 Years of the first Atlas (1570-2020) & others: A Stamp Sheet of six stamps depicting the Atlases which were compiled in the Netherlands in the 16th & 17th Centuries AD: Stamp Set issued by POstNL: Date of Stamp Set issue: 23.03.2020






















34) "UN Crypto Stamps", United Nations: "New Technologies for the United Nations Stamp Series": Series II of United Nations Crypto Stamps issued by the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) which run on Blockchain Technolgy: Date of Stamps issue:18.11.2022

35) 2022 NL Crypto Stamp - Duo Set Crypto The Netherlands (NL) + Oostenrijk (Austria) - Collectibles: Date of Joint Crypto Stamp issue: 22.09.2022

36) Tarzan of the Apes, Netherlands: A Medal/Coin issued by the Royal Dutch Mint (RDM) depicting the popular fictional legend of Tarzan of the Apes: Date/Year of Coin/Medal issued: 2022

37) "EpilepsieNL" (Epilepsy), Netherlands: 130th Annversary milestone (1893-2023): Two Coins/Medals in Coincard issued by the Royal Dutch Mint (RDM): Year of Coins issue: 2023

38) Sesame Street, Netherlands: 45 Years of Sesame Street Milestone (1968-2023): The Royal Dutch MInt has released the complete collection of Sesame Street Muppets: Date/Year of Coins issue: 2023

39) Holland America Lines, Netherlands: 150th Anniversary milestone (1873-2023): PostNL (Netherlands Post) has issued a 24-carat Gold Stamp with the denomination of "1" (for items weighing upto 20g for domestic/inland post): Date of Stamp issue: 18.04.2023


Links to Posts on Pieter Mondriaan (or "Piet Mondrian"):



Experience Nature Stamp Series:








9) Experience Nature - Skrok and Skrins Nature Reserves located n the province of Friesland: "Experience Nature 2021-2023 Perennial Series": A set of Stamps issued by PostNL (Netherlands Post) featurng the Flora and Fauna of the Nature Reserves: Date of Stamp Set issue: 13.02.2023

10) Experience Nature - De Weiden Nature Reserves located in the province of Overijssel: "Experience Nature 2021-2023 Perennial Series": A set of stamps issued by PostNL (Netherlands Post) featurng the Flora and Fauna of the Nature Reserves: Date of Stamp Set issue: 12.06.2023

11) Experience Nature - Oisterwijk Woods and Fens located in the province of Noord-Brabant: "Experience Nature 2021-2023 Perennial Series": A set of ten stamps issued by PostNL (Netherlands Post) featuring the Flora & Fauna of the Nature Reserves: Date of Stamp Set issue: 14.08.2023

For interesting posts from the Caribbean Netherlands on this blog:


Typically Dutch Postage Stamp Series "House Types & facades":





Typically Dutch Coin Series -2023:






Dutch World Heritage Series:

For other interesting posts from the Faroe Islands:





8) "Organic Art", Faroe Islands: Posta/Postverk Foroya (Postal Works of the Faroes Islands) has issued a set of six stamps of 29.00 DKK (x 3 Stamps) and 19.00 DKK (x 3 Stamps) depicting Organic art by three artists in the Faroes: Date of Stamp set issue: 16.05.2022

9) Faroese Minerals, Faroe Islands: Posta (Faroe Islands Post) has issued a Miniature Sheet (MS) of stamps depicting Calcite and Copper: Date of Stamps issue: 24.10.2022

10) Faroe Islands Banknotes New Series - 2012: An updated version of Faroese Banknote Series with new security features was introduced into circulation: Banknotes were printed by Danmarks Nationalbank

Posts on SEPAC issues on this blog:





Posts on Finland on this Blog:













Links to other Posts on Aland issues:


2) Wildflowers, Aland Islands: A new Series of Franking Labels issued by Aland Post: Date of issue: 03.02.2020






Links to some other posts on shipwrecks:




Links to Posts on Norway issues:

Links:

i) "The Rooswijk", an ill-fated Dutch East Indiaman, Netherlands which sank during her second trip on 09.01.1740: Mexican Silver Cobs, Silver reales, Klippes and Pillar Dollars etc were recovered from the ship-wreck

The undernoted two links will take you to our blog "Footloose" for two interesting posts written by me on the Dutch presence in Sadras in the 17th Century AD:

i) Reconnecting with India's historical heritage: A visit to Sadras Fort built by the Dutch in 1648: (Part 1): a) Commentary of the Dutch presence in India & b) The Dutch Cemetery

ii) Reconnecting with India's historical heritage: (Part ii): A visit to Sadras Fort built by the Dutch in 1648: The ruins tell the story of a flourishing Sea-trade

Links to Posts on Pieter Mondriaan (or "Piet Mondrian"):


For other interesting posts on Belgium & Luxembourg Coins and Stamps:


5) City of Bruges (or Brugge), Belgium: 20 Years as UNENCO World Heritage Site: A 20 Euro Silver Proof Coin issued by the Royakl Dutch Mint under licencing of the Royal Belgian Mint, on behalf of the National Bank of Belgium: Coin issue date: 26.02.2020

6) 100 Years of Nature & Environment Protection, Luxembourg: Commemorating the Centenary Anniversary of the "Letzebuerger Natur a Vulleschutsliga a.s.b.l. (Luxembourg Nature and Bird Protection Society):A 0.80 Euro Stamp issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Date of stamp issue: 10.03.2020

7) Celebrating 25 Years of listing on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Luxembourg: A Commemorative Stamp of 0.80 Euro issued by Luxembourg Postes (Post): Stamp issue date: 10.03.2020

















Posts on SEPAC issues on this blog:






























Posts on SEPAC issues on this blog:




Links to Posts on Turks and Caicos Islands:

1) A Quarter Crown (1/4) Coin, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), A British Overseas Territory (BOT): The Coin was only issued in 1981 and was since demonetised in 1986

2) A Half Crown (1/2) Coin, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), A British Overseas Territory (BOT): The Coin was issued only in 1981 and was since demonetised in 1982

Links to Posts on Curacao on this Blog:

1) Festival di Tumba (Carnival of Curacao), Curacao: "50th Edition of the Curacao Carnival/Festival" held from 27-31.01.2020: A set of six Commemorative Postage Stamps brought out by Cpost (Curacao Post) on 20.02.2020

2) Trains of South America, Curacao: Cpost International (Curacao Post) has issued a set of stamps featuring Trains of South America: Date of Stamp set issue: 21.06.2021

3) Willemstad, Curacao: 25 Years of UNESCO World Heritage Site: Cpost International (Curacao Post) has issued a set of 16 postage stamps celebrating the milestone: Date of Stamps set issue: 18.08.2022

4) Willemstad, (Dutch, Caribbean Island, Curacao), Netherlands: "Dutch World Heritage Coin Series": Tenth Coin in the Series of 10 Euro (Gold) and 5 Euro (Silver) Collector Coins minted by the Royal Dutch Mint (RDM) feature this historic city: Date/Year of Coins issue: 02.02.2023

For some other interesting posts on Currencies of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, please visit the following links:








Links to some other interesting posts from South American countries & Mexico:

1) The Evolution of Mexican Coinage


24) Bolivar Soberano (or "Sovereign Bolivar"), Venezuela: (2018 Series of Banknotes) introduced by Banco de National, the Central Bank of Venezuela on 20.08.2018 


1) Trains of South America, Curacao: Cpost International (Curacao Post) has issued a set of stamps featuring Trains of South America: Date of Stamp set issue: 21.06.2021

2 comments:

  1. Santosh Khanna has commented:
    "Thanks for sharing this interesting and informative post."

    ReplyDelete