To make an addition to the series of postage stamps Unique Exhibits of the Latvian Museum of Natural History, Latvijas Pasts, in collaboration with the museum, releases a new stamp depicting gypsum, a valuable rock found in Latvia. The first day cancellation of the stamp is scheduled to take place in the Latvian Museum of Natural History, 4 Krišjāņa Barona Street, Riga, from 10 AM to 5 PM on the 18th of February 2018.
The new stamp depicts one of the valuable exhibits of the Latvian Museum of Natural History – gypsum rock occurring in Latvia. The print run of the stamp is 200,000 copies, and its face value is €1.42, making it suitable for sending a registered Class A letter within Latvia. The release of the stamp is accompanied by the issue of a special cover with a print run of 1,000 copies. The stamp and the cover have been designed by the artist Ģirts Grīva.
Gypsum is one of the most valuable rocks in Latvia that is found in the Latvian subsoil. Its occurrence in Europe is rather limited. All three varieties of gypsum can be found on the territory of Latvia: the purest fibrous gypsum, whose layers have considerable thickness in Latvia in comparison with other countries; selenite gypsum, which most often consists of plate-shaped crystals, grouped in two to three centimetre rosettes; and banded gypsum, which is mainly used in the manufacture of building materials and exported to many countries of the world.
This is the fourth stamp released in the series Unique Exhibits of the Latvian Museum of Natural History. The first stamp was issued in 2015 and it was dedicated to the unique specimen in the Palaeontology Collection of the Museum – the placoderm fish. In 2016 the series was supplemented by the stamp Aberrant Birds, while the stamp released in 2017 featured the Dog Rose, an exhibit from the Museum’s Botany Collection.
