555,555 Stamps

It has been almost a year since our previous stamps milestone. Now there are 555,555 Stamps on Colnect!

"Palace" (Abu Dhabi), from the Colnect catalog

Stamps have proven to be one of the most popular categories of our community. Out of 124,000+ colnectors, more than 27,720 are stamps collectors :) Are you one of them?

Being one of the oldest categories on Colnect, it has been loyally supported and lead by hard-working coordinators - Guido Fußhöller [footy68] and Klaus Jochimsen [Lola22].

"Costume of Motalskiy region" (Belarus), from the Colnect catalog

Colnect is also constantly updated by our 915 contributors and almost 200 of editors. We are thankful to all the colnectors devoting their time to increase our Stamps catalog and making it globally accessible.

"New model of electric locomotive" (Georgia), from the Colnect catalog

Right now the catalog has many detailed sub-categories: Countries, Emissions, Formats, Printings, Perforations, Colours, Years, Face Values, Currencies, Themes and Catalogs.

 
"Peaceful Visions" (UNO New York), from the Colnect catalog

For this blog post, we decided to brush up collectors' knowledge of philatelic history. The Royal Mail of the United Kingdom was established in 1516. The first stamp was issued on May 6th in 1840. It was issued by Britain and it was called "Penny Black", which we, of course, have on Colnect ;)

1st stamp in the world - "Penny Black" (The UK), from the Colnect catalog

 
The first perforated stamps, though, saw the light of the world in 1854 in Great Britain too. In the next years other countries issued their own perforated stamps.

People started collecting stamps, or philately, right after first stamps went into circulation.

Impressive fact: in 1841 there was an ad posted in a newspaper about a woman seeking other philatelists to help her decorate her bedroom's wall with stamps.

"Nordic Food Culture" (Denmark), from the Colnect catalog

Interestingly enough, The UK is the only country in the world that does not mention its name on stamps. In addition, the first non-royal face on British stamps was William Shakespeare's portrait.

"Balcony Scene in Romeo and Juliet" (The UK), from the Colnect catalog

Another unique stamp is the Banana stamp issued in Tonga! :)

"Banana" (Tonga), from the Colnect catalog

Do you have a favourite stamp in your collection? Do you have suggestions for our Stamps Catalog? Leave a comment and share your thoughts! 

And finally, if you want to contribute to stamps catalog, follow the instructions here.

Happy Colnecting! ;)

100,000 Collectors 110,000,000 Inventory Items Now on Colnect

We have reached a perfect score! The Colnect members community has expanded to a perfect 100,000 Collectors.

100,000

We have been counting up to this milestone in a rising pace, starting way back in August 2009, just a few thousands, then going up - 11,111, then it took us a year to reach the next step 20,020, climbing to 33,333, 40,004, 50,505, passed the wicked 66,666 to 70,707 and now we are doing a great leap, skipping a few steps ahead into the nice and round 100,000.

"20 Dollars (Black-eyed Susan)" 2010 Canadian coin, new on the Colnect catalog

These 100,000 collectors all manage their collections on Colnect, which has brought the total amount of items in the Colnect inventories lists to a whopping 110,000,000 items! Each item on this list is a collectible piece someone has, wants to swap or is interested in. That is a satisfyingly great collecting power.

"Football Party" 1953 USA commuter card, new on the Colnect catalog

A significant part of the community are the contributors, Currently there are over 800 active contributors on Colnect, each helping in their own way into building and perfecting the Colnect catalogs. Would like to join in and contribute to Colnect? Learn more on the Colnect Contributor Guide.

"Algarve. Rocha beach" 1988 Portuguese postcard, new on the Colnect catalog

The contributors are doing great work and the catalogs have been flourishing, each catalog reaching new and impressive milestone of size and quality. The Stamps catalog has surpassed 500.500 Stamps just in the last month. All numismatic catalogs have been perfecting their art. All catalogs have expanded and are looking beautiful.

"Order of the Württemberg Crown Commander with Star" 1818 German medal, new on the Colnect catalog

We're proud of this community and glad to see how far Colnect has come since it's inception. Colnect only develops as it's community does. Every new collector affects the catalog and community and makes it better.

"Rodenbach" Belgium beer coaster, new on the Colnect catalog

We're excited to see this vivid and bustling activity on Colnect and appreciate all who participate and all those who help make it happen. We wish fun collecting to everyone, see you on the next milestone!

"You're Great!" 2015 USA gift card, new on the Colnect catalog

Colnect Catalog Passed 500,500 Stamps!

We are very proud to announce that the Stamps catalog has now surpassed 500,500 unique items, making it one of the 2 largest catalogs on Colnect and one of the top largest Stamp catalogs in existence today!

As the stamps category is a veteran branch of collectibles, particular care is given to the quality and accuracy of the catalog by the wonderful Stamps team, headed by the coordinators Guido Fußhöller [footy68] and Klaus Jochimsen [Lola22] and supported by so many great editors and contributors.

"Bogdan I Vodă" Stamp from the "650 Years Since the Foundation of the State of Moldavia" 2009 Moldova series, new on the Colnect Stamps catalog

Images are an essential and important part of the catalog. Stamp images have been greatly improved on the catalog due to a great effort lead by the stamp coordinators. Tens of thousands of stamp images have been added to stamps with missing images, thousands more stamps with low quality images have been replaced with high resolution images, making the catalog that much more beautiful, detailed and convenient.

"Tingia carbonica" Stamp from the 2004 North Korean Fossils series, new on the Colnect catalog

New standards for quality of stamp images have been enforced which have also significantly raised the level of the images on the catalog, both in resolution of images and in the presentation style of the stamps. You are welcome to browse through the results and see all the great new images up close using the zoom in feature.

"Kim reading at desk" Stamp from the 2004 North Korean series "40th Ann. of Workers' Party of Korea by Kim Jong Il", new on the Colnect catalog

This milestone is coming a long way from the previous milestone of 300303 Stamps. A lot of effort and thought have been put into the catalog, you can follow up on the progress on the Stamps Forum.

"Duck, Dog & Cat" Stamp from the 1996 Australian pets series. new on the Colnect catalog

Would like to contribute to the Stamps catalog as well? See how you can help on our Contributor Guide. You are welcome to join our world community operation to create the most complete and accurate Stamps catalog available anywhere today.

"Western Capercaillie (Tetrao Urogallus)" stamp from the 2007 Moldova series "Extinct Birds of Moldova", new on the Colnect catalog

We'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you for the absolutely amazing efforts of all the Stamps Coordinators, Editors and Contributors. Thank you for all the time, care and dedication that have been put into creating and evolving this incredible catalog.

"Lifeguard" Stamps from the 1961 North Korean "The 15th Anniversary of Children's Union" series, new on the Colnect catalog

Continent Division in Country Lists !NEW!

As part of the latest efforts to make the browsing of the Colnect catalog even more swift and intuitive, now all Country lists have been divided into Continents on quick on-page tabs, so you can rush past all irrelevant information on the way to your wanted collectible items.

As in all the other lists on Colnect, you can also use the Quick-Filter box. Just start typing into the yellow search box and see how the list quickly adjusts and shortens to include only options you may be interested in.

This continent division is, of course, optional and you can still view all countries in the regular list format if you prefer it.

Combined together these options make for not only fast searches, but also for convenient view of the Country List pages, with no scrolling down needed, just a click or a type.

Try it out now and let us know what you think! Come on, search for something... :)

Face Values Lists - Easily find your item by its Face Value !NEW!

Following a lot of discussions and work, the Face Values Lists are now publicly available. Look at your item, now at the face values list, now back at your item, now back at the screen - you've found your item :)

Colnect has been working to make browsing the catalog as comfortable to use as possible. Now you can find the item you are looking for at a glance. If you have a stamp and can read its value and perhaps another detail, you're more likely to quickly locate it on Colnect. Also, if you want to know how many coins with a face value of 5 you have, simply add the "Face Values" filter.

Together with the option of the Quick-Filter, hitting your desired item is made even easier. Use the quick-filter search box to quickly shrink your list to include only the values you may be interested in. This option is available on all Colnect list pages.

The Face Values lists can be seen by clicking "Face Values" under any of these categories -
Stamps face values
Phonecards face values
Transportation tickets face values
Gift cards face values
Banknotes face values
Coins face values
Functional cards face values
Tokens face values
Lottery tickets face values

So browse away, and enjoy the hunt for your favorite items. Once you've done that - let us know what you think of the new feature! Like it as it is? Want to see any changes made to it? Simply adore it? Fire away.

Colnect: Goodbye 2012 - Welcome 2013!

This past year has been a year of many additions, from collectible categories, through features to the very inner workings of the system for Colnect. Colnect has grown, both as a community and as a catalog, network and website, and with it it learned, improved and bettered itself. Just as 2012 begins and ends with the number 2 which symbolizes togetherness, Colnect began and is ending it's year peaking with it's greatest strength - cooperation.

Many collectible categories joined the Colnect ranks in 2012, to proudly represent and cater to all their collectors. Categories such as Pocket Calendars, Sugar Packets, Lego Sets, Stickers and Trading Card Games are each now holding their place with a respectable catalog of their own. All these categories were established by collectors and with collectors that initiated, maintained and contributed to make it all happen.

Year 2013 Pocket Calendar, from the Colnect Catalog

Some categories are in the works now, to be made public in this coming year of 2013, such as Drink Labels, Medals, Video Games and Functional Cards. All collectors interested are welcome to join and contribute to the new categories by contacting the respective category coordinators. We wish all these categories and their coordinators luck and success in the new year. All the process of construction of new categories has been available since this year on the new "New Categories" forum, where everyone cam follow new suggestions of categories and suggest some of their own.

Year 2013 Pocket Calendar, from the Colnect Catalog

The Colnect community itself has been increasing in size, as more and more collectors are discovering all the advantages it offers. Only last month Colnect marked it's latest milestone of 40004 collectors registered. The community members have also been reaching out to each other more on the personal level, and were afforded the comfortable opportunity to in the new Meetings and Events forum.

Year 2013 Pocket Calendar, from the Colnect Catalog

The expanding catalogs have been benefiting from the many generously active helping hands of collectors around the world, and have also marked milestones of their own. The Stamps category reached 300303 Stamps, the Coins category now superseded it's previous milestone of 30003 Coins, while the Phonecards category has achieved the number of 400004 items on it's catalog.

Year 2013 Pocket Calendar, from the Colnect Catalog

Possibly the most important and influential changes introduced to Colnect are in the added features and the improvement of the system. Colnect has been working to make itself smoother, more accessible, easier and friendlier to use. New features included the valuable Best Matches option, the Colnect Item Score for collectible items and the 5 Star Contribution system.

Year 2013 Pocket Calendar, from the Colnect Catalog

The most exciting part of this changing year is that 2013 is sure to bring with it much more revolutionary changes, improvements and many more very welcome additions. Already now we are expecting great potential from the results of the work on the Colnect API, the New Method to Add Items and Colnect Marketplace.

Year 2013 Pocket Calendar, from the Colnect Catalog

Thank you to all are continuously helping to realize such a wonderful, useful and effective tool for collectors of so many items around the world. There is no room to thank each one individually, but we hope this will be a great year for each one of you and for all of us together.

Happy New Year 2013 !

The Brothers Grimm 200th Anniversary - Stamps Telling History

Stamps and well written tales have something very important in common. They both serve a purpose to tell a story, and for both there will always be passionate people, be it avid readers of books or Collectors of Stamps, who's love and appreciation help conserve these important stories and pass them on from generation to generation.

"The Brothers Grimm", depicted on a German stamp issued in 1959 

This year marked the 200th Anniversary of the Brothers Grimm's first published collection of folk tales named "Children's and Household Tales" ("Kinder- und Hausmärchen"), that was published in 1812.

"Cinderella and her coat" and "Cinderella and her shoe" , German Stamps, 1965

The Brothers Grimm (German: Brüder Grimm or Die Gebrüder Grimm), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who together collected folklore. They are among the most well-known storytellers of European folk tales, and their work popularized such stories as "Cinderella" (Aschenputtel), "The Frog Prince" (Der Froschkönig), "Hansel and Gretel" (Hänsel und Gretel), "Rapunzel", "Rumpelstiltskin" (Rumpelstilzchen), and "Snow White" (Schneewittchen).

"The story of Hansel and Gretel", German Stamps, 1961

The popularity of the Grimm's collections of folk tales endured well beyond their lifetimes. The tales are available in more than 100 translations and have been adapted to many popular films around the world, crossing all cultural barriers. They have created a legacy that enriches the lives of many entire nations, reaching them one child at a time.

"Snow White", German Stamps, 1962

In honor of the 200th Anniversary of the Brothers Grimm's body of work we wanted to display the lovely German series of Stamps, displayed on the Colnect Stamp catalog, made about their most famous published works. The series, issued throughout the 1960's, depicts different famous moments and plot points from their most well known tales. Almost each year there was a new tale of the Grimm brothers retold through Stamps. The artist beautifully depicted, in a childlike simplified nostalgic style, scenes we all grew up to be so familiar with, as were our parents, their parents before them and so on.

"Little Red Cap", German Stamps, 1960

We hope that the best stories of our culture will continue to be remembered and retold through Stamps, as well as other collectibles, with the dedication, enthusiasm and understanding that so many collectors and collectors communities we have come to know and cherish on Colnect have shown again and again.

Cheerful Holidays and Happy Collecting :)

300303 Stamps on Colnect

One of the largest catalogs with the one of the richest and longest standing record in history of collectible items has now reached 300,303 items on Colnect! As many as 100,000 Stamps were added to the Colnect Stamp Catalog since our last landmark milestone. 

Colnect Stamp Catalog - the latest Stamps added

Amassing that amount of information and documenting it is no easy feat and great appreciation is due to those who worked hard to achieve it, from all who contributed to the catalog to, of course, the dedicated Coordinators and Editors. A special thank you is owed to Lola22, Peti543, clodius, DarioDeSantis and fabellogo and the many contributors who sent them information to be added.

"Sprint" - 1989 Stamp from the Maldives, Newly added on Colnect

Colnect is on it's way to streamline itself even more, making faster and easier the process of contributing to the catalogs. Hopefully that will mean that soon the Stamps catalog will rocket itself even further forward, covering the majority of the worldwide abundance of stamps. Follow the process to design the most comfortable way for anyone willing to join in on the building of the catalog.

"Eagle and Dan Dare" - 2012 Great Britain Stamp

From big to small features, the Stamps catalog structure never ceases to improve itself. Attention to detail is in the heart of the Philately collectors community and that reflects on the Colnect catalog. Only in the last few months there have been changes made to the Adding Images option, Filters for Printings and Perforations, Stamps Colors, and the Catalog Order. All is done by requests made on the forum in order to listen to the needs of a growing company of passionate collectors who want to see the future of collecting happen before their eyes.

"Braunschweig Coat of Arms" - 1856 German States Stamp

Diversity of Stamp items can sometimes be overwhelming. In just the last 30 days there were stamps added from 170 different countries. The stamps cross continents from The Maldives, through Australia to Japan, as well as decades, from the 1800's, through the merry 1960's and 1970's to the latest stamps printed.

"Ibaraki: Rose" - 2011 Japan Stamp

The aspiration to encompass not only the complete sequence of world Stamps in it's entirety but also of Stamp Collectors is a common wish of Colnect as well as the collectors community. As we add in a joint effort more items, more people, we expand, we extend the passion and knowledge to others. We not only document the information but pass onward the skill and joy of collecting. If you would like to participate come see how it is done.

Happy Holidays for Everyone and Happiest Collecting :)

Great Britain Collection of Car History Stamps from Jaguar On to the Model T - Colnect Collectibles

Many of the items that collectors collect are in fact associated with certain collections that have corroborated over time. To commemorate these specially themed collections, countries release special issues of these items that depict images and information that are relevant to them.

Through our “Colnect Collectibles” series we will highlight special collections by featuring Collectible items from our Colnect Catalogs that are associated with organized collectibles of related issue.

The 1982 Cars stamp collection in Great Britain featured an astounding array of world renowned British motor car royalty.



The special Cars stamps collection is a popular one on Colnect, and the catalog shows how these were issued with both an antique automobile and a more modern vehicle on each individual stamp.

The first stamp featured has a vintage 1920's SS1 and an emerald green Jaguar XJ6 amidst a lighter green backdrop. Jaguar has been one of England's premier car companies, though Ford has purchased them in recent years. The stamp was a twenty-six penny issue.



Rolls Royce makes a showing with an early twentieth century open air Silver Ghost in white, and the squared off 1980's Silver Spirit in maroon; the contrast between the cars is amazing in this twenty-nine penny stamp, and the its violet background creates a historic allure to the beautiful Car collection of English stamps.



The inventor of all things mechanized automobile and assembly line was Henry Ford, and so the Cars collection proudly showcases the original Model T, and a ruby red 1982 Ford Escort to round out the past and the present of the innovator's company. Unlike the other stamps in the set, this one has a grey background, which brings out the two cars beautifully and it was a nineteen and a half penny issue.



Colnect brings a culmination of various themed stamps and other artifacts together with its many thousands of collectors and their rare collectibles, and more are added incessantly.

UNIQUE FEATURE: Colnect Item Score

Sink your teeth into the Item Scores! Colnect Item Scores are calculated for each collectible and even each seamless stamp with a bellowing tyrannosaurus dinosaur that, despite its detailed likeness, will not eat the rest of your collection (or so we hope).



The Item Scores help to attribute value and determine the rarity of the pieces collected and featured on our listings. The more that members desire an item, the higher the Item Score. On the other hand, the collectibles that are featured in many collections will have lower Item Scores, as they are less rare.

Members and visitors alike can also easily sift through the myriad treasures by an easy search method: there is a filter to look at items that are only of a Medium or higher accuracy rating or just High Accuracy. There are scores of items that are uploaded onto Colnect, and the Item Score ensures whether or not these are accurate, allowing for Colnectors to more easily determine what they want to look at.

This is made apparent on this look at a search of the highest scoring stamps with at least Medium accuracy.You can view and comment on the announcement in the forum for the Item Score.



Colnect users can sort any List by the Item Score. Finding hard-to-find collectibles, from coins, to stamps, to bank notes has just gotten a lot easier.

Be sure to tune in to the forums and cast votes. The archives, catalogs, and collections are here to be enjoyed.