Bolivia

Dinosaurs and their traces, fossil found places, paleontologists on stamps and postmarks of Bolivia

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Contents:
Bolivia, officially known as the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in western-central South America. It is bordered to the north and east by Brazil, to the southeast by Paraguay, to the south by Argentina, to the southwest by Chile, and to the northwest by Peru.
Although only one-third of the country is located in the Andean mountain range, its largest city and principal economic centers are in the Altiplano. Bolivia was formerly known as Upper Peru and became an independent republic on 6 August 1825. [R1]

It has produced its own stamps since 1867. Stamps from Bolivia are marked as Correos de Bolivia. Tensions between Chile and Bolivia have influenced both country's stamps and postal history. [R2]
So far dinosaurs have appeared on stamps of Bolivia only twice in 1997 and 2012. Bolivia issues FDCs in very limited quantities. For example, only 200 covers were issued for the 2012 dinosaur stamps.



Official stamps of Bolivia related to Paleontology: dinosaurs, fossils, paleontologist

30.01.1997 "Tourism in Chuquisaca" [1] 26.09.2002 "Bicentenary of the birth of Naturalist Alcide d'Orbigny" [2] 08.07.2012 "Paleontological Deposits of Chuquisaca"
Chuquisaca, fossil-found place on stamps of Bolivia 1997 Naturalist Alcide d'Orbigny on stamps of Bolivia 2002 Dinosaurs on stamps of Bolivia 2012
2018 overprinted "Paleontological Deposits of Chuquisaca" [3]
Dinosaurs on overprinted stamps of Bolivia 2018

Notes: Dinosaur's footprint on FDC of Bolivia 1997
[1] Chuquisaca is a department of Bolivia located in the center south. It borders on the departments of Cochabamba, Tarija, Potosí, and Santa Cruz. The departmental capital is Sucre, which is also the constitutional capital of Bolivia.
Many dinosaur footprints are found there. The footprints and dinosaurs who left these footprints are depicted on the stamps issued in 1997 and 2012. They were also used in the illustration for the 2007 Tourism, Tourist destinations, Tourist Departments – Chuquisaca” issue.

[2] Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny (6 September 1802 – 30 June 1857) was a French naturalist who made major contributions in many areas, including zoology (including malacology), paleontology, geology, archaeology and anthropology.
He was also the first person to describe planktonic foraminifera from modern oceans. [R3]

[3]
The overprint mark of Bolivian Post 2018
The overprint mark of Bolivian Post 2018.
The Bolivia 2012 dinosaur issues ("Paleontological Deposits of Chuquisaca") were overprinted in 2018 with red text “Agencia Boliviana de Correos”.
According to Bolivian Philately Club, due to its reorganization, in 2018, the Bolivian Post Authority liquidated the company who produced postage stamps for Bolivia between 1993 and 2017 - “la Empresa de Correos de Bolivia” (ECOBOL).
To prevent new, illegal prints or use of the stamps left in the stock of ECOBOL, the stamps in the stock of Bolivian Post were overprinted between May and June 2018, with a small red mark “Agencia Boliviana de Correos”. The mark was made in several sizes between 9.9mm and 10.8mm. [R4]
The dinosaur overprinted stamps were issued the Scott numbers in the October 2023, December 2023 and February 2024 Scott Update: 1503A-1506A (the "A" letter was added to Scott catalog numbers of the original stamps from 2012). MICHEL catalog does not list the dinosaur stamps yet (March 2024).



Other stamps to consider: fossil found places

14.12.2007 "Tourism, tourist destinations, Tourist Departments - Chuquisaca" [1] 06.09.2013 "Conservation Association of Torotoro, 25th Anniversary" [A1]
Chuquisaca fossil-found place on stamps of Bolivia 2007 fossil-found place Torotoro on stamp of Bolivia 2013

Notes:
[A1] The Conservation League Torotoro (ACT), was founded on June 10, 1988, in order to promote the conservation, protection and proper management of flora and fauna, paleontological and speleological resources and natural beauty of the area Torotoro. Some dinosaurs are depicting on FDC and commemorative postmark.



Commemorative postmarks and meter franking of Bolivia related to Paleontology: dinosaurs, contributors to Paleontology

Legend is here
26.09.2002 "Bicentenary of the birth of Naturalist Alcide d'Orbigny" [2] [FDC] 08.07.2012 "Paleontological Deposits of Chuquisaca" [1] [FDC] 06.09.2013 "Conservation Association of Torotoro, 25th Anniversary" [A1] [FDC]
Naturalist Alcide d'Orbigny on postmark of Bolivia 2002 Dinosaur on postmark of Bolivia 2012 Dinosaurs on postmark of Bolivia 2013



References:
  •   [R1] Bolivia: Wikipedia, WikiTravel, FlagCounter.
  •   [R2] Postal History and Philately of Bolivia: Wikipedia,
              Links to official website of the Post Authority, stamp catalog and a list of new stamps of Bolivia are here.
  •   [R3] Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny: Wikipedia
  •   [R4] Bolivian Philately Club: official website


Acknowledgements:
Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for the draft page review and his very valuable comments.


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