Prehistoric Animal Stamps of Poland

While flipping through my album of Polish stamps I stopped at a page with a series of stamps depicting dinosaurs. 

I have liked these stamps since I was child.  The stamps are known as the Prehistoric Animals series.  The first set was issued in 1965 and depicts dinosaurs (Scott 1307-1316).  A second set (Scott 1395-1403) was issued in 1966 and has a more varied range of prehistoric creatures from fish to several Ice Age mammals, including a Wooly Mammoth.

Wooly Mammoth

Scott 1403

Issued 5 March 1966.

A Google search yielded some interesting information about these stamps.  They are among the earliest stamps to depict Prehistoric Animals.  The stamps were designed by the Polish graphic artist, Andrzej Heidrich (1928-2019).  Heidrich designed many Polish stamps and Polish banknotes during the 1960s-1970s.   

The depictions of the prehistoric animals were based on artworks drawn by Czechoslovakian paleoartist, Zdeněk Burian (1905-1981).  Paleoart is any original artistic work that attempts to depict prehistoric life according to scientific evidence.  Burian is considered one of the greatest paleoartists of the Twentieth Century.  To create his drawings, Burian would meticulously study the skeletal anatomy of the prehistoric animal he was illustrating.  Burian created nearly 800 paleoart paintings during his career. 

The things you learn from stamp collecting!

Three stamps from the 1965 Prehistoric Animals set.

From left to right Stegosaurus (Scott 1311), Brachiosaurus (Scott 1312), and Tyrannosaurus (Scott 1316).

For additional information about dinosaurs on stamps see the “Milestones of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology related Philatelic items” web site at https://www.paleophilatelie.eu/index.html. 

The American Topical Association has identified 4,276 dinosaur stamps as of November 1, 2025. 

Dinosaur stamps can be viewed for free on Colnect at https://colnect.com/en/stamps/countries/theme/2979-Dinosaurs.