3D Dinosaur Stamps

 Postcard for Dinosaur-lover Brian Switek, South Africa, May 2011.

Note: Sorry for the re-post. This post was lost and then mangled somewhat in the blogger mishap last week. I managed to correct the post, but I had to re-post it under a new day and time. 

Just before I left South Africa several days ago, my fiance and I went to the post office to buy some international postcard stamps.

The clerk handed me the five stamps I requested, and I turned to my fiance and said, "Cool! Dinosaur stamps!"

My fiance and I looked more closely at the stamps, and he said, "Huh, that's funny. They're blurry."

I replied, "Oh, that's too bad. Maybe they weren't printed properly?"

For a moment, I was dismayed at the poor quality of the South African stamp printing system. Then I realized I was mistaken. The South African stamp printing system wasn't bad. It was awesome! Far more awesome than the American one, in fact.

I shouted, "Wait... I think they're 3D!"

Several customers in line behind us gave us whimsical looks as my fiance and I excitedly chattered about our 3D dinosaur stamp discovery. The clerk just smiled. 

After finishing our shopping, we headed back to our apartment and managed to find a set of 3D glasses. Yes, we are geeky enough to have 3D glasses at home. Sure enough, the dinosaur stamps jumped to life when viewed with 3D glasses! We have decided that these are the coolest stamps EVER.

Here is some more information on the 3D South African dinosaur stamps:
3D Dinosaur Stamps on StampsWiki

The stamps show five different African dinosaurs. There are two images of each dinosaur: one of the skeleton and one as the dinosaur may have looked in the flesh.

Dinosaur stamps- skeletons. Image from StampsWiki.

Dinosaur stamps- in the flesh. Image from StampsWiki.

Of course, I had to send a postcard with a dinosaur stamp on it to dinosaur-lover Brian Switek. If you haven't already, I recommend checking out Brian's Wired Science blog Laelaps.