# 2422 - 1989 25c Prehistoric Animals: Tyrannosaurus Rex

U.S. #2422
1989 25¢ Tyrannosaurus Rex
Prehistoric Animals

• From a block of four stamps picturing prehistoric animals that once lived in the western US
• Issued for National Stamp Collecting Month

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Prehistoric Animals
Value:  25¢, first-class rate
First Day of Issue:  October 1, 1989
First Day City:  Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Quantity Issued:  101,747,000
Printed by:  Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method:  Lithographed and engraved
Format:  Panes of 40 in sheets of 160
Perforations:  11

Why the stamp was issued:  To promote National Stamp Collecting Month.  In fact, the campaign behind the Prehistoric Animals stamps was one of the largest up to that point.  The USPS worked with MCA Home Video to include a flyer for the stamps in the video cassette packaging for the dinosaur-themed movie The Land Before Time.  It was covered in the media, on the front page of USA Today, and in TV commercials.  Many of these materials promoted that year’s slogan, “Begin an Adventure of Giant Proportions – Collect Stamps.” 

About the stamp design:  The USPS hired John Gurche, who specializes in painting prehistoric animals, to illustrate the Prehistoric Animals stamps.  Prior to the stamps, he’d painted the creatures for books and magazines as well as murals for the National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution.  In fact, he used the Smithsonian as one of his main resources in researching the creatures.  Gurche made repeated visits to the fossilized bones to get his images just right.  Before beginning his paintings, he also made clay models of each creature.

Gurche had hoped to illustrate some more exotic creatures, but the USPS had already made its choices.  With that in mind, he knew he wanted to present the dinosaurs in new ways.  “Some of these ideas had to do with body positions, posture and locomotion, I painted them basically in more active poses, which goes along with the current idea that some dinosaurs perhaps were warm-blooded,” he said.  The predatory tyrannosaurus rex is seen running while hunting for his daily meal.

This stamp, along with two others in the set, pictures two animals, displaying how they were social creatures. Gurche also used the background colors for dramatic effect, most notably on the tyrannosaurus stamp.  The red-orange sky gave it “sort of an evil, menacing feel.” 

First Day City:  The First Day ceremony for the Prehistoric Animals stamps was held at the Universe of Energy Exhibit in Epcot Center at Disney World, in Orlando, Florida. 

Unusual fact about this stamp:  Blocks of the Prehistoric Animals stamps have been found with the black engraving missing.  The black engraving includes “USA,” the denomination, and each creature’s name.

About the Prehistoric Animals Block:  The set is often referred to as “dinosaur stamps,” however one of the creatures, the winged Pteranodon, isn’t a dinosaur.  Early plans for the stamps included a wider variety of creatures including the ancestor of the horse, a woolly mammoth, a flying reptile, and a saber-tooth tiger.  The topical subcommittee found the subjects unbalanced and decided that the idea of primitive beasts was too general.  So they decided that the creatures should all come from the Age of Reptiles.  They put together a list of five creatures – the four that made it onto the stamps, plus the triceratops.  They included the triceratops in case their consultants through the Pteranodon didn’t belong.  But they found it helped bring variety compared to the large creatures on the other stamps. 

The sheet’s selvage includes a red “Stampasaurus” with stamp-shaped spikes running down its spine.  This mascot was also included in several pictorial cancelations throughout the summer and fall leading up to the stamps’ issue, as well as during National Stamp Collecting Month.

About National Stamp Collecting Month stamps: October has been designated by the US Postal Service as National Stamp Collecting Month.  The first celebration occurred in 1981 as a way to promote the hobby of collecting stamps.  Each year, new stamps are issued in early October to stimulate additional interest, and many philatelic organizations hold special programs during the month.

History this stamp represents:  Dinosaurs ruled the earth during the Mesozoic Era, a period that began about 240 million years ago.  Although some were as small as chickens, other species were among the largest animals to ever inhabit Earth.  Some were plant eaters while others were carnivores.  Scientists divide dinosaurs into two major groups – Ornithischians with birdlike hip structures and Saurischians, which feature a hip structure like that of a lizard.  For reasons that aren’t fully understood, dinosaurs became extinct about 63 million years ago.

The Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex) has long been a creature of interest for the human race.  Some Native Americans thought this dinosaur’s fossils were from a legendary creature and would burn the bones in hopes their wishes would be granted.  It was not until the 20th century that scientists discovered T. rex and began officially studying it.

Paleontologist Barnum Brown found the first partial specimen of a T. rex in 1900 in eastern Wyoming.  Two years later, Brown found a much more complete skeleton in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana.  Brown’s discoveries drew other paleontologists to T. rex, and soon the study of this new species exploded.

Through the years, over 50 T. rex skeletons have been found around the world.  As paleontologists studied these specimens, new theories were developed and old theories discarded.  For example, as late as the 1970s, it was thought T. rex walked upright with its tail on the ground.  Scientists eventually realized this would have been impossible for a living animal to achieve, and introduced T. rex’s more horizontal posture.

There are plenty more T. rex secrets paleontologists have yet to discovery.  To think, each new fossil dig could hold the answers we have all been waiting for!