Pocket Calendars on Colnect - Pocket Calendars Catalog

We're very happy to announce the addition of a new category to Colnect: Pocket Calendars

Pocket Calendars Category now on Colnect

There are already 1,905 Pocket Calendars and surely with your help that will grow very quickly. The coordinators of the category are steamtrain and Pelacanyes. If you've never contributed information to Colnect before, please read our Catalog Contribution Guidelines.

The category has started at the suggestion of collectors and thanks to their wonderful and dedicated contribution. The entire discussion and build can be seen here on the forum. You may suggest and become a coordinator of more categories on Colnect - just read our More Collectibles? page.

Maria Creus - Spanish Pocket Calendar from the Colnect Catalog

TGV - Train a Grande Vitesse - Spanish Pocket Calendar from the Colnect Catalog

Comisión Fiestas 5ª Promoción - Spanish Pocket Calendar from the Colnect Catalog

Our blog has been quiet for a while as most of our announcements are published directly on our announcements forum where you can get regular updates. If you wish to write to our blog don't hesitate to make your suggestions.

Happy collecting :)

Neil Armstrong Passed Away at the Age of 82

Yesterday, 25/08/2012, Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon passed away at the age of 82. Armstrong was an American astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor and United States Naval Aviator. He was one of the first U.S. civilians in Space, commanding NASA's Gemini 8 mission. He became an iconic figure around the world as the first human to step on the moon, and will be remembered for it for generations and generations to come.

Neil Armstrong, lunar module "Eagle" from Apollo 11

Eroberung des Weltraums: Neil Armstrong phonecard issued in the year 2000

His achievements as an astronaut and his historic arrival upon the moons' surface has inspired people around the world and ignited human imagination of space travel. The inspiration and appreciation produced many collectible items to be designed to commemorate those achievements. You can see commemorative Neil Armstrong stamps issued phonecards over the years.

Sugar Packets, Lego Sets and Stickers - all now on Colnect

As more and more collectors join Colnect, categories of collectibles are joining in as well and at a faster rate. Today we are glad to announce the addition of three new categories, including Sugar Packets, Lego Sets and Stickers. All were added at the request of collectors on Colnect.

 

For the category to grow and expand, many collectors contribute information to the catalog. If you haven't contributed before and would like to know how, please read our Catalog Contribution Guidelines. 

The beginning of the Sugar Packet Category

All the categories are now in their infant stages, but are already off to a good start. Stickers already has 7836 items on it's catalog. The coordinators for the new categories are tuixons for Sugar Packets, nzexchange for Lego Sets and Paolo73 for Stickers.

First stages of the Lego Sets Category

Would you like to see more categories on Colnect? Collect a kind of item you would like to see on the Colnect catalog? Colnect is always looking to expand the catalogs and add all categories that collectors are interested in. The categories were born of discussion with collectors on the forums. You can participate too. You can become the coordinator of a new category. Just take a look at our More Collectibles? page. 

The new Stickers Category

 Take a look at the new categories and let us know what you think. If you have any suggestions or notes you are welcome to comment here on our blog. Thank you to all that helped on these builds.

Happy collecting for everyone :)

TechCrunch vs. India Mess - Entrepreneur Around the World

Frognector has been moving around the world and has already visited 14 countries during the last year. Being on the road allows us to meet up with collectors in different locations and some dedicated members of Colnect. It also creates an interesting story we use to make Colnect more known. We've had amazing experiences in lovely and exciting places and have met wonderful people on the road.

Frognector enjoying a red/yellow corn in Laos

Throughout this journey a column has been made public on NewsGeek (in Hebrew), sharing some experiences and insights learnt throughout the journey. Recently, we wanted to appeal to a larger audience of English readers and have tried to pitch the story to various publications. A few publications have shown interest in the story and we might soon be published in more places.

One publication, however, has made some very interesting mistake that has created vast amounts of anger amongst its reader. A sample that was sent to TechCrunch to evaluate the level of writing and judge whether our column would interest TechCrunch technologically-oriented readers, has been published by mistake. It was first attributed to someone else and has been put with wrong pictures. But the best part here was that the title was changed and, lacking any introduction to our journey, created the false impression that we're bashing India's hi-tech scene. Quite saddening that this happened as many readers became very upset about it. You're welcome to read the TechCrunch post and the comments there.

As we're now in China and couldn't see the comments (Facebook is blocked in China), we didn't even know they existed. When we got access to them, we could finally respond and here's the full response below.

"

First and foremost, please accept my deepest apologies for this post that has been MISTAKENLY made public on TechCrunch and completely taken out of context. This post was a part of a series of posts describing my PERSONAL experiences as a startupist traveling the world. It was sent to TechCrunch only as a SAMPLE to evaluate the level of writing and see if this could interest TechCrunch readers. I was shocked to find out it was published without any prior request. Its title was changed by TechCrunch and made many of you think it's an opinion about India's Hi-Tech industry. It's not. Many have thought it's bashing India. It's not. I've spent about a year of my life in India (passing through most of its states) and have much appreciation for this diversified nation.

NOW THE REAL CONTEXT: I'm the founder of Colnect ( http://colnect.com/ ), a community website for collectors worldwide available in 60 languages (including a few Indian languages). Coln

ect is offering collectors unique services, such as automatically matching exchanges between collectors based on their personal collection, and has been built by over 500 volunteers from around the globe.

Over a year ago, I've left my home and decided to keep developing Colnect while on the road. There were various reasons for that decision: meeting Colnect members and other collectors, promoting Colnect locally and through the "Entrepreneur around the world series" and enjoying an ever changing work environment. The journey has so far passed in UK, Iceland, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Israel, Jordan, India, Thailand, Laos and China.

The 22 posts made so far described personal experiences of a traveling startupist and shared my personal tips on how to facilitate traveling and working. One of the posts, published in Hebrew, was titled "7 Reasons to Leave Everything and Start your Startup in India" ( http://www.newsgeek.co.il/startup-in-india/ ).

In an effort to reach a wider audience, I've decided that the series should be made available in English and so we've addressed a few publications we thought would be relevant. One of them was TehcCrunch. They asked for samples and got them. We didn't hear from them. Then I get a Google Alert and saw this post online. Although shocked, I thought that any publicity is better than no publicity, even though the post was first attributed to another person, contained wrong pictures (first isn't mine and second is me in Thailand) and no links to Colnect. Beeing behind China's firewall, FaceBook was inaccessible and I wasn't aware of the comments until my brother let me know about them. So here I am now, explaining how all this happened.

If you've actually read this far and want to keep bashing the post, myself and TechCrunch, feel free to have another go at it.

"

Trading Card Games on Colnect - New TCG Catalog

We're very happy to announce the addition of a new category to Colnect: Trading Card Games

We're starting with 5,281 Game Cards but surely with your help it'll grow very quickly. The coordinators for the category are SerdarAkar and ALeitao. If you've never contributed information to Colnect before, please read our Catalog Contribution Guidelines.

The category has started at the request of collectors and the entire discussion can be seen here on the forum. You may suggest and become a coordinator of more categories on Colnect - just read our More Collectibles? page.

Our blog has been quiet for a while as most of our announcements are published directly on our announcements forum where you can get regular updates. If you wish to write to our blog don't hesitate to make your suggestions.

Happy collecting :)

One Year of Colnect Around the World

Do you know where Colnect offices are? Well, they’re not there. Not anymore. Colnect offices are on the move all over the world and chances are that by the time you read this page, they will be somewhere else than where they were when we wrote it.

Frognector was very impressed by the distinguished Indian gentleman's mustache

Today, 7/7, it will be One Year of Colnect on the road. The roads were various and many, led by the fierce and fearless Frognector. He went from the remote hitchhiking paths of Iceland and down the European continent all the way to Ukraine. He then turned east, floating in the dead sea in Israel, visiting desert caves in Jordan, being tossed around on buses and trains through India, enjoying shakes and massages in Thailand and now celebrating the long and yet-to-become-longer way in Laos. We even have pictures to prove it - the Famous Frog on top of Thai temples as well as Polish buildings and battling Indian snakes.

Look behind you, Frognector! The golden Buddha on the mountain is staring at you

So why create the Traveling Office? Well, for one thing, how else will Frognector get to meet the amazing collectors on Colnect? Yes, they can come to a Colnect Convention. But that is in the future. For now, Frognector just has to be every place. That way he got to connect a smiling face to those on Colnect whom he knows so well from working on Colnect. He got to see their collections for himself and see how their Colnecting home station looks like. In Berlin, in Prague, in Bangkok, all presented impressive collections and some good inside advice that can only be given by a collectors’ first person long term experience.

The Red Rock of Petra, Jordan, amaze even Frognector into a moment of silence

In every nook and corner the world hides amazing collectibles. Some already on Colnect, some soon-to-be-added on Colnect. As with Frognector’s travel plan, so it is with Collectible Categories and Collectible Items on Colnect - The Sky is the Limit. During the journey Colnect was constantly buzzing and busy with adding new Categories. Just like Tokens joined in Colnect, Sugar Packets, Trading Card Games and Lego Sets will soon be announced, many others are in the works and soon will be on Colnect as well. On July 2011 we have decided that Colnect should be everywhere, and so should we be. That kept Colnect growing more than ever and light on its feet ever since. Hopefully this is the start of a new exciting second year, with more developments on the site, more countries visited and more collectors met.

Tokens on Colnect - Token Catalog

We're very happy to announce the addition of a new category to Colnect: Tokens

Tokens on Colnect

We're starting modestly with only 100 tokens but surely with your help it'll grow very quickly. The coordinators for the category are moneyer12 and neweden. If you've never contributed information to Colnect before, please read our Catalog Contribution Guidelines.

The category has started at the request of collectors and the entire discussion can be seen here on the suggestion forum. You may suggest and become a coordinator of more categories on Colnect - just read our More Collectibles? page.

Our blog has been quiet for a while as most of our announcements are published directly on our announcements forum where you can get regular updates. If you wish to write to our blog don't hesitate to make your suggestions.

Happy collecting :)

33,333 Collectors Connect on Colnect

Be that the Trinity, threesomes or the first child of a new family, 3 is a fine fine fine number :)

Colnect can now thank over 33,333 collectors for their contributions to the exciting site about all things collecting! As nearly 300,003 people visit Colnect every month, we hope and expect more of them to join us and make Colnect the best community for collectors around the world.

Though the world is filled with conscientious historians and just plain old fun loving collectors, there have been few outlets to bring together these people with similar interests. It is true that many purchase and sell their rare artifacts on various sites, but the digital auction house lacks the innovation that Colnect works hard to perfect: the connection.

Colnect has hundreds of thousands of stamps and other beautiful collectibles on a database that automatically translates languages from across the earth and allows people to exchange information about and trade their collections. There are often links to the items that can be found on eBay as well.

33,333 is a landmark number (as Colnect had 30,003 members about 3 months ago), because you, the fans of collecting, have gathered here at Colnect to meet and expand the vast online catalog of collectible treasures in order to help each other to further enjoy the thrill of collecting. As you continue to upload the prestigious post cards, tea bags, beer coasters, coins, and more onto Colnect, a world-wide treasure map is being composed for all of its inhabitants to see and enjoy. It is also the people who help to make the catalogs better that deserve to take a bow. Thank you!

30,003 Coins Marks New Colnect MILESTONE!

As one of the premier coin collecting enterprises online, Colnect celebrates its coin catalog database reaching the 30,003 coin plateau today.



It is you, the Colnect collectors, that continue to bolster the vast archives with exceptionally extraordinary collectibles and artifacts that should be proud of this great achievement. Colnectors can now find and view over thirty thousand different coins within the Coin Category for trade, studying, or just plain enjoying.

We must also give credit where it's due and recognize angelo13 and rubycored for their excellent work as coordinators since our last achievement of 22,222 coins. See how to help contribute to the cause here.

Look and marvel at the beauteous piece, the bronze color and the gorgeous imagery on the Vienna issued Austrian five Euro coin.



Nowhere is such a vast array of unique, rare, and exceptionally lovable collections. Colnect embraces its users who offer up their precious valuables for viewing.

Remember that it is through your work, your diligent collecting, and your vigorous online connecting that the world gets to share and embrace all of the wonderful collectibles here on Colnect.

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.

World Currencies List Project

With the undertaking of the World Currencies List Project, Colnect, which currently has the most comprehensive list of currencies in the world, hopes to attain all known currencies and denominations of legal tender.



There are over twelve-hundred currencies featured in the Banknote section on Colnect at this time. More can be done with it, however, and we need your help.

The avid colnecting contributors, BrunosapiJens and Rubycored, have made it their mission to carefully construct a complete list of currencies in a visually clear aesthetic, with their respective country names, like they are featured on Wikipedia's less extensive currencies list.



Before the Updated Currencies List, users could upload their own currency on Colnect and edit entries on the list themselves, because it was unlocked. But this led to discrepancies in entries of the same denomination that were written in as "pounds" instead of "pound," for instance. Now this is not the case, and professionals are on the site to modify the currencies list.



For those of you who are proactive and wish to help out with the Colnect currencies list, please keep an eye out for duplicate entries. If you spot any, there is a duplicates report that can be filled out and sent to iflvico.

You can also view the Instructions on Adding/Editing Currencies here. As always, enjoy the tremendous array of Banknotes and collectibles featured on the Colnect collection connection site.

Best Matches - Colnect's New Kick-Ass Feature!

We're so very happy to announce a unique and unrivaled feature on Colnect called "Best Matches".

Find swap partners in seconds using Best Matches, a POWERFUL feature offered exclusively on Colnect! Colnect sophisticatedly suggests who you are most likely to have a good exchange with. The suggestions are based on your own Personal Collection and those of all active members of Colnect. The algorithm automatically tries to find collectors who have many items that you want and, at the same time, want items you can offer.

This feature has long been requested and awaited by many collectors and its implementation will definitely revolutionize the way collectors exchange. With Colnect's unique auto-match feature, collectors could already easily see what they can exchange with another member but they still had to check other members profiles to see who it is they are likely to find a good match with. Now even this tedious part shall be done automatically.

Using "Best Matches" is extremely simple and only takes a single click.



Happy matching :)

Collection of Ireland's Vintage Beer Coasters Shows Best-Selling Brew Guinness's History - 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.

Rarely do history and beer coasters go hand in hand, like they do in the gorgeous collection out of Ireland featured here on Colnect. Since its inception over two hundred and fifty years ago by Arthur Guinness of St. James Gate in Dublin, Ireland, innovative, history wielding, and fun beer coasters have accompanied the brew. Above is an Arthur Guinness Son & Co. product explaining how the beer barrels were distributed via river barges for over two hundred years in Ireland.



On others, the lineage of bottled Guinness in "stone stouts" is made clear by beautiful pictures capturing the different ages of bottling techniques and the clear and proud Guinness signature on their own bottle.



Even the early pre-Twentieth century methods for racking the massive wooden kegs of beer are captured in glorious vintage depictions of a man manually rolling the barrel carefully along the racking shed for distribution. The Guinness stout has long been a staple of the world beer market, and will be for quite some time.



The Guinness beer coaster collection out of Ireland is unique and awesome in its recollection of the brew master's fabled past, and the famous caretakers of the brewery have felt it necessary to share their forgotten methods and photos to bring fans of the beer closer together through history. Find many more historic, educational, or exhilarating collectibles on Colnect.

Five Star System of Contribution Implemented

Here at Colnect there is a new way to recognize the great collaborators that have made our catalogs as amazing as they are: there is now a Five Star Contribution attribution for dedicated Colnectors!



Recommendations for stars come from the Colnect coordinators and are awarded by our community manager iflvico and by our translations manager BrunosapiJens.

Though the Star System is hard to give guidelines for, it can be defined as a rewards system that attempts to estimate the amount of assistance given by volunteers on Colnect. If a member adds 1000 items with little information and another adds 100 items with excellent details, then they might get the same star treatment.

The general guidelines for the three star system were based on an estimate of how many hours the collector gave in helping Colnect (or how many hours the coordinator would estimate the contribution to be worth):
1 star > 5 hours
2 stars > 50
3 stars > 200

Since achieving the last of the the previous Three Stars for recognition of contributions, Colnect has seen fit to expand the field to Five Star ratings, which can be seen on the many interesting collectors' profile pages. This should result in more stars being rewarded.




Colnect continues to grow because of the many dedicated members that arduously donate their time and energy to bolster the organization of the vast array of collectibles on our catalogs. There are numerous Colnectors that continue to organize, correct, and contribute to the many wondrous artifacts on Colnect, from the Cozel bottle cap's sheik red coloring of the Czech Republic top, to the evil Darth Maul's Star Wars gift card from Toys-R-us.




You can tune in to the ongoing forum about the Five Star Contribution system, and as always, please continue to collect and to revel in Colnecting!

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.

Egypt Regained Freedom from England - February 28 - Today in History Through Collectibles

Many of the items that collectors on Colnect collect are in fact associated with certain historical events that have taken place over time. This applies especially to Stamps, Phone Cards, Coins and Banknotes. To commemorate these special historical events, countries release special issues of these items that depict images and information relevant to these events.

Through our “Today in History Through Collectibles” Blog we will highlight special events in history by featuring Collectible items from our Colnect Catalogs that are associated with historical events that took place on specific days in history.

Egypt was born ninety years ago, today, on February 28, 1922 when Great Britain officially conceded via a unilateral declaration of Parliament that Egypt was a free country. With its independence, came an identity: this is Egypt.



The post card is often a rare window into the past, and here in Colnect's catalogs there is featured Egypt's gorgeous This is Egypt post card to highlight the ancient culture and the history surrounding their freedom from colonization.

When the British army defeated the Egyptians in 1882 at Tel El Kebir, a colony was born that would not be rescinded until a nationalist movement began an uprising and ultimately a revolution that ousted the foreign rule in 1922.

The rich culture of Egypt, once free, could share its amazing ancient pyramids, artifacts, and history of one of the world's earliest successful civilizations. The post card is tremendously realistic; the only word is "Egypt" in white, and a man rests on a camel on the desert dunes with the incredible wonders of the world: the Gaza pyramids lining the horizon at either sunset or sunrise. The colorful browns and oranges from this piece are breathtaking.

Post cards are one of the myriad treasures that are stored on Colnect for all collectors to find and enjoy.

Anniversary of Disney's Pinocchio - February 23 - Today in History Through Collectibles

Many of the items that collectors on Colnect collect are in fact associated with certain historical events that have taken place over time. This applies especially to Stamps, Phone Cards, Coins and Banknotes. To commemorate these special historical events, countries release special issues of these items that depict images and information relevant to these events.

Through our “Today in History Through Collectibles” Blog we will highlight special events in history by featuring Collectible items from our Colnect Catalogs that are associated with historical events that took place on specific days in history.

On February 23, 1940 Walt Disney's animated version of the classic fairy tale Pinocchio opened in the United States. It would go on to become a world-wide success and sensation, in part because it's based on an age-old European folk tale.



Colnect brings forth another rarity from from out of its vast stamp catalog, and this Pinocchio from the 1980 Christmas series in Turks and Caicos Islands is over thirty years young. The legendary tale was probably passed on via oral tradition long before it was written down. Pinocchio is a wooden boy crafted by a lonely smithy, and Pinocchio comes to life to fulfill the wishes of the man to have a son. In the Disney movie, as in the lore, whenever Pinocchio lies his nose grows long.

The 40 x 38 mm rectangular four cent Pinocchio stamp was released on the twenty-fifth of September in Turks and Caicos Islands, and it showcases a gorgeous scene from the Disney film of 1940. The bordering is white and the nose of the wooden Pinocchio is so long that a bird nest is out on the end of it, complete with baby blue birds and Jiminy Cricket.

Be sure to tap into the massive amount of rare collectibles and stamps on Colnect.