Bozeman, MT — The U.S. Postal Service along with the Museum of the Rockies (MOR) salutes the dinosaur that dominated the tail end of the dinosaur age with new Forever stamps depicting the awe-inspiring Tyrannosaurus rex in growth stages from infancy to adulthood.

“With the dedication of these dazzling new Forever stamps today, the Postal Service pays tribute to the king of the dinosaurs,” said Douglas Stephens, the USPS District Manager for the Dakotas/Montana and stamp ceremony’s dedicating official.

Joining Stephens to dedicate the stamps were Dr. David Varricchio, Professor of Paleontology – MSU Department of Earth Sciences, Patrick Leigi, Director of Paleontology, Exhibits, & MOR Exhibitions and Dylan &Whitney (Wankel) Klasna. The Wankel family discovered the “Nations T. Rex” on Federal lands in Montana in 1988.

In attendance where Vince Camillo from Senator John Testers office and John Durnal from Senator Steve Daines office.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex Forever stamps are available in panes of 16 stamps with four designs. Featuring lenticular printing, two of the four designs show movement when rotated. See the skeletal remains with and without flesh and watch as an approaching T. rex suddenly lunges forward. This printing method was first used by the Postal Service to produce the Rabbit and Hat stamp on the Art of Magic souvenir pane in 2018.

Scientist and paleoartist Julius T. Csotonyi created photorealistic illustrations of T. rex with depictions based on the growing body of research on these dinosaurs. Csotonyi painted digitally using a stylus on a computer screen, an approach he likens to acrylic painting. Art director Greg Breeding designed the pane.

The “Nation’s T. rex,” the young adult featured on two of the new stamps, was discovered in 1988 on federal land in Montana. Painstaking excavation revealed what would become one of the most studied and important tyrannosaur specimens ever found, including the first T. rex arms ever recovered. The Nation’s T. rex is now exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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