Paper Clips Collectors Welcome to Colnect

First in a batch  of new categories joining the Colnect catalogs is Paper Clips. These sweet, shiny and sometimes colorful devices will be gracing the Colnect pages from now on. We are calling all collectors of Paper Clips to come, take a look, let us know what you think, and help the catalog grow :)

Axion Paper Clip, newly added on the Colnect catalog

We wish the new category coordinator, Bruun Visser [Bruun01], good luck with his new role and thank him for the efforts to create this catalog for the benefit of all collectors.

Wing Paper Clip, Newly added on the Colnect catalog

This category is starting out with 2,390 Paper Clips and with your help it will grow soon to be more. Read here how to add Information to the Colnect catalogs.

Dutch Paper Clip, Newly added on the Colnect catalog

The category has started, like all categories on Colnect, at the imitative of enthusiastic collectors on the forum. You are welcome to read how it all came about on the Paper Clips forum thread.

Promo Paper Clip, newly added on the Colnect catalog

Your collectible category is not yet on Colnect? Would like to create a new collectible catalog? Read more on how to add More Collectibles, take the reigns and make your suggestion on the New Category Forum.

Wing Paper Clip, newly added on the Colnect catalog

Colnect 2013 was Fun - version 2014 is going to be so much more!

They say that the way you start a year, is the way it will be for the rest of it. If that saying has any truth to it, judging by the amount of activity and newly added improvements, it seems Colnect is getting ready for a blast of a year to come :)

Lottery Ticket "Happy New Year!"

So what did we have in this year of 2013?

This year must have gotten some good luck when we celebrated our catalogs reaching 1,111,111 collectibles, which is seven lucky numbers one. Since then almost 300,000 additional items have been published on the catalogs.

This year had many new categories joining, from Lottery Tickets to Medals, from Drink Labels to Video Games, and from a familiar game changing Functional Cards to a the sister catalog to Teabags - Tea Labels.

Drink Label "Kruger Pilsner", from the new catalog

The New Year 2014 is now expected to bring with it New Categories that were waiting in the wings to be launched. We will have the highly anticipated Sports Cards category, and also Paper Clips, Milk Cup Lids, Kids Meal Toys and Music CDs. Many more were already suggested and are sure to join in the upcoming year.

Functional Card "Happy New Year", from the new catalog

There could never be too many helpful features and additions. In everything having to do with collectors and Colnect, the more helpful tools is definitely the merrier. We've just now added some cool helpful hands to the Inventory Notes. That's not the only feature we've added though, we did much more throughout the year. We've opened up the Personal Customs lists to all, so you can put your collection any way you'd like. We parsed the seas and divided the collectibles into Continents. We've made it easy to find items through Face Value. We sped things up with Quick Filter options. We've diversified the catalogs with adding Variant support. We even put a looking glass right into the catalog and added a Zoom into the pictures.

Medal "Royal Military", from the new catalog

Each collectible category is unique and has it's own specific needs. Many categories got tweaked and improved, decorated and streamlined. You can see that on the Postcards category that finally had Theme Collectors give out a sigh of relief, Phonecards that has split in two, following much debate, and Hotel Key Cards that got a cool new Aggregation Feature added to it's catalog.

Our community kept reaching new heights, we have marked the occasion of having 56789 collectors on Colnect, and had the opportunity to thank the 666 contributors on Colnect making it a better place for collectors every day.

Tea Label "1 De Beste", on the new catalog

Finally, December ended on an especially heart warming note, when the wonderful Colnect Coordinators, were able to gift Free Premium Memberships to some 100 happy collectors.

Lottery Ticket "Happy New Year!", from the new catalog

Colnect has been preparing to welcome the New Year in style and festivities. It has been an eventful December, that will undoubtedly lead to an exciting January 2014, full of new features, new categories, more options and more collecting.

666 Contributors on Colnect - Making Colnect a Reality

The number 666 has been demonized quite a lot throughout history. However we can remember that it is also the sum of all the numbers on a roulette wheel and in that is Judaism 666 is the number which represents the creation of the world. For us on Colnect today this number represents the 666 contributors that make Colnect happen. These collectors, each with their time and collection, create extensive current collectible catalogs that are open to all and help translate Colnect to make it available in 62 languages.

The Colnect Contributors - the very beginning of the list :)

In March 2012 a 5 star system of contribution was introduced on Colnect and it seems it has been happily accepted by all Colnectors. The 5 star system allows Colnect to show it's acknowledgement of the help of the contributors and adds fun to the process.

Contributors on Colnect have helped it reach achievements such as cataloging over 1,111,111 collectible items. In the last month alone there have been over 20,000 collectible items added to the Colnect catalogs. 

Colnect started as a Phonecards database and since then has expanded to house 25 categories of collectible catalogs and growing, thanks to the good will and cooperation of collectors worldwide. Many new categories have been in the works for some time by dedicated collectors and many more are being suggested an discussed now on the New Categories forum.

We would like to thank all the contributors and wish them good luck and fun collecting! As always, we'll be happy to hear what you think, in the comments and on the forum, what do you think of the 5 star system? What do you think of the current catalogs?

Would like to become a contributor on Colnect too? Go to our Contribution Guidelines page. See you there :)

56,789 Collectors now on Colnect!

It's always fun to see more and more collectors joining Colnect and participating in the community. Every day you can see more collectors from different countries swapping items, discussing collectible issues on the forums and suggesting useful new ideas, keeping the Colnect community vibrant, current and on it's toes.

In the last 3 months Colnect has reached 56,789 Collectors, an increase of  over 11 percent. That means over 6000 collectors have joined Colnect in the past 3 months, becoming members of the community and enriching it with their input, with their collections and their character.

"25 Rupees - Queen's Silver Jubilee" - Seychelles Coin, newly added on Colnect

It's truly beautiful and inspiring to see the cooperation between collectors on Colnect, from those who have been with Colnect since the beginning to brand new collectors. The more veteran Colnect collectors are happily reaching out to new ones with help and advice, creating new connections of collectible exchange and friendly relations, helping improve the catalogs and the website with their comments and remarks and more.

"Nissay" - Japanese Phonecard, newly added on Colnect

New items are constantly added to the Colnect catalogs, thanks to the wonderful contributors, editors and coordinators on Colnect. You can see some examples of them right here in this post. Some categories have reached new impressive achievements such as the Japanese Phonecards section that accumulated over 111,111 Japanese Phonecards, with much of it due to the dedicated work of the editor of Japanese Phonecards, Karl Heinz Degener [neizi].

"Peter Rabbit" - Japanese Phonecard, newly added on Colnect

There are also new categories that have been in the works for some time now. Those will be joining Colnect soon such as Sports Cards, CDs, Paper Clips and Milk cup lids. Many more great collectible category ideas are being suggested on and off the forums and we hope eventually we will be able to create a home for all of them.

A big thank you to all those devoted and enthusiastic collectors that are the beating heart of Colnect, both very active and very kind, from Coordinators, Editors, Translators and Contributors to all the Collectors on Colnect that swap, discuss, manage their collection and show much care and appreciation for Collecting.

"Famous Uruguayan Women - Nelly Goitino" - Uruguayan Stamp, newly added on Colnect

Would you like to know how you can contribute to the Colnect catalogs too? Have a look at our Catalog Contribution help page. Would like to suggest and create a new category you would like to see on Colnect? Post it on the New Categories forum.

"Vessel with flowers" - Japanese Phonecard, newly added on Colnect

50,505 Collectors Now Connect on Colnect

It's always satisfying to see the Colnect community grow and reach another new level and a brand new number. It seems we have reached the 5th level of expansion and the number seems to be a lucky one for Colnect. Many new features joined the site and many older ones were improved.

Proudly marking another milestone, the Colnect community now consists of 50,505 enthusiastic and devoted collectors. Those collectors together, by contributing, editing, commenting, exchanging, discussing and browsing, bring Colnect alive as an interactive, attentive and strengthening organism. On Colnect we only count real members who validated their email address and logged in to Colnect. You can also quickly reach Active Collectors in any category of your liking and see their Personal Collection.

Colnect, as always, works to make the experience of touring through Colnect as fun, easy and intuitive as possible. One important change was the improvements made to the browsing process of the catalogs, which included new comfortable Filter Options, the Quick Filter box and a Continent Division in the country lists.

The new "Zoom In" feature, now available on all Colnect catalogs

The catalogs benefited from new Variant Items support, new Face Value lists and an easy-on-the-eyes "Zoom into pictures" feature. The management tools were enriched with Custom Personal Lists becoming available to all members and the personal profile pages were made more understandable thanks to a useful "Auto-Translate" icon. See the new features and let us know what you think!

Colnect also opened it's gates and it's API, inviting more collectors to show their programming skills with innovative, useful and fun new ideas for tools for collectors.

Spanish lottery ticket, newly added on the Colnect catalog

As always, more interesting new collectible categories have joined our ranks since our last milestone, and are now displaying beautiful catalogs already. Those categories are Lottery Tickets, Medals, Functional Cards, Drink Labels and Video Games. More exciting new categories are right now in the works, go see the New Categories forum to find out which they are and see their progress.

Bulgarian medal, newly added on the Colnect catalog

We would like to thank all the inspiring and inspired collectors, who with their passion, kindness, dedication and sense of community, all this has came to be. Thank you! :)

Lottery Tickets - A New Category Joins Colnect

We are happy to announce the newly built Lottery Tickets category on Colnect is now available.

"Corresponsal de guerra S.XIX" - 1980 Spanish Lottery Ticket, from the new Colnect catalog

This category was made through the initiative of collectors on Colnect, headed by the new category coordinator, Juan Armero [elcapict]. You can see the whole build and discussions surrounding the creation of the category on the Lottery Tickets forum thread on the New Category Forum.

"Winning Streak" - New Zealand Lottery Ticket, from the new Colnect catalog.

Lottery Tickets have an interesting role as a collectible, being part of an exciting game, then turned a collectible item. There are Scratch tickets and Tenth tickets, from all kinds of draw types. The budding category is starting with 522 Lottery Tickets from New-Zealand and Spain. With your help it could grow fast to include tickets from all countries and organisations. To know more about how to contribute to the Colnect Catalogs, please see our Catalog Contribution Guidelines page.

"Perfect Match" - New Zealand Lottery Ticket, from the new Colnect catalog.

Missing your favorite kind of collectible on Colnect? Would like to build a catalog of your collectible in the way you think it should be? You are welcome to try us and suggest a new catalog, and head your own category on Colnect. Go to the New Category forum and see what's going on. You can read more bout what it takes to create a category on Colnect on our More Collectibles? page.

"Periódico siglo XIX (caricatura)" - 1980 Spanish Lottery Ticket, from the new Colnect catalog.

We would like to thank all who helped this category come to life, who participated in the discussion and gave their opinion. It has been a joyful effort, and that shows in the catalog itself. We wish the best of luck to the new category and it's coordinator in his new role :)

"Solitaire" - New Zealand Lottery Ticket,  from the new Colnect catalog.

Colnect Welcomes the New Tea Labels Category!

We are happy to announce the addition of a new category and catalog to Colnect - Tea Labels

"Pepermunt/Menthe poivrée" - Tea Label from the Netherlands.  From the new Colnect Tea Labels catalog.

The Tea Labels category was initiated and built as sister catalog of the Teabags category by the Teabags coordinator, Carine De Pauw [crookscarine]. The new category will be headed by Carine De Pauw [crookscarine] as well, who will take on this new category, additionally to her responsibilities on the Teabags category.

"Enjoy Me" - UK Tea Label, from the new Colnect Tea Labels catalog. 

The budding catalog now holds 155 labels, but with your help, it can quickly match the size of the Teabags catalog and surpass it. If you are interested in knowing how you can join in and contribute to the new catalog, you are welcome to take a look at our Catalog Contribution Guidelines page.

"Princess" - Lithuanian Tea Lebel, form the new Colnect Tea Labels catalog

The Tea Labels catalog, as mentioned before, was built in relation to the Teabags catalog, and so will include a nifty little feature that will enable collectors to match each Tea Label to it's corresponding Teabag on the Colnect catalog. All you need to do is take a look at the "teabag" field on the item description, and click the corresponding link.

"HAS Qualitee" - German Tea Label, from the  new Colnect Tea Labels catalog

As all Colnect catalogs, the Tea Labels catalog was created at the initiative of collectors, structured and designed as they see fit. You can take a look at the entire building process and discussion on the forum thread. Are you interested in seeing more collectibles on Colnect? Collect Something not yet on on Colnect, and you would like to start anew category? Read more about it on the More Collectibles? page.

"Assam Tea, ˶Każdy krok...˝" - Polish Tea Labels, from the new Colnect Tea Labels catalog

We would like to thank all who helped and participated in the build of this category and wish the best of luck to this new catalog, and its coordinator, Carine De Pauw [crookscarine] :)

Medal Collectors - welcome to Colnect!

We are happy to announce the opening of a new Medals category on Colnect.

"Order of the People's Army with Golden Star" - Yugoslavian medal, from the New Colnect Medals Catalog

A long awaited category, the Colnect Medals Catalog, is home to a unique kind of mass-produced collectible. Medals are a collectible that is, by definition, relatively rare. Many times a collectible Medal is passed on as family heirloom, and each holds a personal meaning that goes beyond the title of the medal alone. The catalog will be open to many kinds and Usages of Medals, from Military, through Education to Sports.

"Humanitarian Service Medal" -  USA medal, from the New Colnect Medals Catalog

The category will be co-coordinated by Hernan Bofill [hbofill12], and [neweden]. There have been a lot of efforts made by devoted collectors, such as the coordinators and more, to bring this category to life. The catalog now holds 272 precious Medals from 10 countries. With the help of more collectors, it can develop into a comprehensive and impressive account of World Medals.

"College of Montreal Medal" - Canadian medal, from the New Colnect Medal Catalog

The category was built at the request and initiative of Colnect Collectors. You can see how the build was developed on the forum. If you would to see how you can contribute and join in on the catalog, you are welcome to read all you need to know on the Catalog Contribution Guidelines page.

"Bronze Star, for acts of heroism" - USA  medal, from the New Colnect Medals Catalog.

Are you  a Medals Collector? Would like to meet the other collectors on this category? Come see the new Medals Collectors Forum.

"General Güemes" - Argentina medal, from the New Colnect Medal Catalog

We would like to thank all who helped make this wonderful category happen, and wish the category, and it's coordinators the best of luck :)

555 Collectors Volunteer on Colnect

People are good in nature. Colnect may have been founded by one person, but it wouldn't have been able to be what it is now if it wasn't for the collectors who contribute to it. Since the beginning of Colnect, collectors joined, one by one, from all corners of the world to create catalogs for the benefit of All Collectors.

Colnect is now standing on three pillars of five, 555+ collectors who volunteer their time and dedicate their efforts to  the build of the catalogs. It must be said, their efforts are showing. In every category the catalogs are growing and reaching new milestones, and in a faster pace. Only recently we marked two milestones, on the Stamps category, and the Phonecards category. Only this month there were 20,202+ collectible items added on the Colnect catalogs, that now contain over 1,111,111 collectible items. Volunteers keep the catalogs not only expanding but also accurate and complete by editing, commenting and adding information.

Contributing collectors come from all collectible categories and from varied countries, from Spain to Australia, from Taiwan to Belgium, from Venezuela to Greece. They all come together for the same purpose, and by each showing their own collection and information about collecting we can all see how vast is our combined pool of knowledge and culture and how truly rich we all are, together.

We would like to Thank you all, Stars of Colnect, for your good efforts and good will. We are creating a great resource, and we will expand it even more in the future, to make sure no collector is left behind :)

Interested in collecting? Want to know more about how to contribute on Colnect? Read more on the Catalog Contribution Guidelines page. Want to see a NEW collectible category on Colnect? Take a look at More Collectibles?

1,111,111 Collectibles on Colnect

We are very proud to announce that the items on the Colnect Catalogs have reached the incredible mark of 1,111,111 Collectibles!

This number was reached due the devoted contribution of many good collecting souls that continue to volunteer their time, talent and knowledge to creating and constantly growing the best world collecting community and it's catalogs.

Newly added item to the Stickers Catalog

We would like to express our continued gratitude and appreciation to all those who make Colnect not only possible, but a great environment for collectors, for connecting, exchanging, learning and growing. To all of you, from the Contributors that give the information to the Category Coordinators who process it, from all those who take the time leave Comments to the Editors that review the catalog, to the Translators that make the catalogs available to all worldwide, to all the Forum participants that help divert attention to important details, all of you - thank you. We hope you all see the wonderful outcome of your efforts on the catalogs, and see how your contribution is manifesting itself on Colnect.

Newly added item to the Stamps catalog

Want to take part? Would like to see more items on the catalogs? Missing your country items? Read more about contributing to the Colnect catalogs on our Catalog Contribution Guidelines page. Colnect does not have a Collectible Category you are interested in? Would like to see a new Category on Colnect? See our More Collectibles? page.

Newly added item to the Postcards catalog

Is seems that Progress is contagious, and the growing amount if info on the catalog made other categories accelerate their pace. Recently we have been marking a few catalog mile stones such as 300,303 Stamps and 400,004 Phonecards. The catalogs themselves too decided to raise their numbers, with the recent additions of the Drink Labels, Functional Cards and Video Games categories. Even collectors themselves increased their presence, with (now over) 40,004 collectors.

Newly added item to the Coins catalog

Only in the last month more than 30,000 collectible items were added to the Colnect Catalogs. Every category has it's own pace, it's own style and obstacles. Some category items are harder to get information about, some less, but every category in it's own field is adding impressive amounts of items and enlarging the catalogs by large percents. From categories adding hundreds of items a month to some category raking in thousands and even tens of thousands, all have all the right reasons to be proud and satisfied.

Newly added item to the Video Games catalog

Functional Cards: New and Game Changing Category

We're excited to announce the launch of a new and important category on Colnect - Functional Cards.

The new Functional Cards catalog, now on Colnect

In a joint effort of active collectors and after much deliberation it has been decided to create a new category that will include all Collectible Functional Cards. The entire discussion can be viewed on the Functional Cards forum thread.

"Quantica Escolar. La Escuela en Internet" - Venezuelan remote memory card.  From the new Colnect catalog.

This category has the potential to grow to be a vast mother category. "Functional Cards" refer to any collectible cards that have an additional function in its structure. Thus it could serve to house many kinds of cards, all of which are generally collected in different combinations by collectors rather than exclusively. It will provide a comprehensive and easy to use catalog to all those collectors of Functional Cards that have many sorts of cards in their collection but need one convenient place to find and manage them. Functional Cards include items from a wide range of fields from Telecommunications, Computer security and Satellite Communications to TV and Entertainment. The systems of the cards used include chip, magnetic stripe, inductive, optic, remote memory and more.

"PRE-PAGO EThERON" -  Venezuelan Remote memory card. From the new Colnect catalog.

The category coordinator is Carlos Rodriguez [venezuelanphonecards], who will be taking on the Functional Cards Category additionally to his responsibilities on the Phonecards category. This is not by chance, the two categories are closely related.

The creation of a Functional Cards category can now accommodate all the relevant cards not yet on Colnect, including the many on the catalogs today that were wrongly attributed to a certain category. This constitutes a big change because of the endless potential it offers.

"CyberCard" -  Venezuelan Remote memory card. From the new Colnect catalog.

Sizable effort has gone into the planning of this category, considering the importance of a category which is needed to be able to properly serve a large variety of relevant items. The current size of it is definitely no indication of it's future. Structure and definitions of this catalog have been taken care of. Now will be the time of growth, as more contributors join in and more collectibles added.  

We invite all collectors of Functional Cards to join this new category. You can  participate in the discussion on the New Functional Cards Collection Forum. If you are interested in this collectible, why not be part of building it for the benefit of all collectors? You can always contribute to the catalog and be part of its build. If you've never contributed information to Colnect before, please read our Catalog Contribution Guidelines.

"WebCard" -  Venezuelan Remote memory card. From the new Colnect catalog.

Collect a kind of item you would like to see on the Colnect catalog? Colnect is always looking to expand the catalogs to include all kinds of collectible items. Come see the New Categories forum. You can participate and you can become the coordinator of a new category. Just take a look at our More Collectibles? page.

Take a look at the new category and let us know what you think. If you have any suggestions or notes you are welcome to comment here on our blog or on the forum. 

"CANTV.net y Agendas Lec" - Venezuelan Remote memory card. From the new Colnect catalog.

We would like to thank Carlos Rodriguez [venezuelanphonecards], and all those who gave their time and effort to make this category come true. We wish the category and its coordinator all the luck with this new and exciting catalog.