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! ;)

Wanna play a game?

One of Colnect's newest categories is Holy Cards. Do you collect those?
Because it is high time you started ;) The catalog currently has 1,500+ cards and it keeps growing!

The Holy Cards catalog is probably the most detailed catalog there is on Colnect. It has 17 sub-categories, including 20+ countries, 350+ subjects, 240+ places of worship, 180+ issuers, 100+ artists, 15 languages, 45+ years, 75+ themes, as well as numerous shapes, orientations, borders, corners, colourations, materials, printings, typologies and characteristics.

To add some interest and about Holy Cards, we invite you to try your intuition in a quiz below!
All you have to do is try to guess a card's country origin. :) Have fun!

If the quiz does not work, try the link here: https://www.qzzr.com/c/quiz/177293/5ff6d0ef-79c7-419f-a3e2-dee398d21e45

When Collecting and Connecting Creates Love

People can meet each other at any place and situation, never to know what relationship can develop from that one chance meeting. Though love is famously blind, and can spark between people of different interests, the love that grows between two collectors can be made especially strong by this common passion. The couple we'd like to introduce you to is just such a couple. Please welcome Mariola [eowyna] and Mirek [bacenty] :)

Mariola and Mirek, please introduce yourselves to the community!
My name is Mariola Chutkowska nee Pyka and my husband's name is Mirek Chutkowski. We are collectors from Poland. I am a court jury and a cosmetic consultant. Mirek works as a security officer.
We got married in 2002, but I decided to change my name on Colnect only a couple of months ago.

"Kisses", from the Colnect catalog

How and when did you meet? 
We met at the local collectibles fair in our town, Jastrzębie-Zdrój in the summer of 1998.

What do you collect and for how long?
I collect Polish phonecards, tea & coffee mugs, books and beer glasses. Also shoes and handbags.
Mirek collects worldwide phonecards, chipcards of all provenance, books, beer glasses (and some other beerophilia), as well as various collectibles related to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster.

 

"Bananas. Love", from the Colnect catalog 

Was there anything or anyone that inspired you to start your collection?
I was inspired by my late father who had collected stamps for years, also beer glasses. The albums are still at my mother's apartment in memory of him.

Do you have some favourite items in your collection?
Yes, there is the 1-liter volume beer mug of our collective favourite beer "TYSKIE" that was given to me by my father years ago.

 

"Valentine's Day", from the Colnect catalog 

Do you have some favourite items in each other’s collections?
I like some phonecards from Mirek's collection. Especially the ones with flowers and landscapes.
Mirek likes my beer glass collection - our collections complement one another.

Do you have any other hobbies?
I like to embroider, love good books and music. I like movies too, but books are better.
Mirek likes to play billiards and is an amateur archer. He also reads lots of books and likes music.

"Symbol of Love", from the Colnect catalog

 

How do you store your collections?
We both use some kind of albums (like for business cards) A4 or something similar. Beer glasses are stored in a multi-shelved cupboard.

Do you exchange collectibles between two of you?
Not really, but sometimes we make each other some presents.

"I love you", from the Colnect catalog 

How did you get to be on Colnect?
Mirek found Colnect surfing the net and he liked it so much he registered the same day. Later he convinced me to join Colnect too.

What is your advice for collectors only starting the hobby?
We wish them to enrich their collections, to meet nice and helpful people, to swap a lot with other colnectors. And (of course) may the force be with them ;)

"Tea Bag: 11 Schönen Feierabend Bio-Kräuterteemischung", from the Colnect catalog

It is always great to find your soulmate that shares interests with you, whether it is art or politics, languages or video games, sports or puzzles. From Mariola and Mirek's example, we can see that not only can you collect collectibles, but also collect memories and experiences with each other.

Happy St. Valentine's Day! 

We hope each of you have an amazing significant other :)

May your home be full of love, laughter and happiness!

"Valentine - Peace", from the Colnect catalog