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

Marking 56,789+ Coins on Colnect!

Good news, Colnectors! Our Coins Catalog has increased significantly, and now you can see over 56,789 coins there.
To highlight the recently reached milestone, we can take a look at the new features of the catalog.

"5 Kwacha (Conservation - Kafue Lechwe)", from the Colnect catalog

Some useful changes were implemented on Colnect since last year, when we reached 50,005 coins. These changes make the Coins Catalog easier to browse and edit. 
Most awaited feature for many coin collectors was Coin Year Variants.

 

"20 Cents", from the Colnect catalog

The possibility of Sorting By Face Value, Quick Year Change List and Improvements to the Collectors Comment System were also added.
Moreover, a couple of months back we saw Multi-value Fields 'joining the catalog', letting editors' work be more pleasant and less time-consuming. 
You can share your opinion of those features on the relevant forum threads.

In addition, some small changes, like Longer Item Names Approved, were brought to life. 

To follow any other small milestones of the Colnect Coin Catalog, make sure to subscribe to the Coin Collection and Numismatics forum. 

But for now, we would like to thank our category coordinators - Hernan Bofill, [hbofill12] and Angelo Parlo, [angelo13] for making the category so popular and diverse. Another big thank-you to all the contributors that made an impact on the catalog.

 

"20 Rubles (Kalyady)", from the Colnect catalog 

Want to become a coin catalog contributor? Read How Can I Contribute to Colnect? page and the Catalog Contributor's Guide for Coins and start helping Colnect now!
 
Do you have a favourite coin in your collection? Share with us in comments here!

99,999 Gift Cards on Colnect!

We have reached a new milestone  - 99.999 gift cards in the catalog! You cannot believe how diverse the category is. 

"Fruits", Lithuania, from the Colnect catalog

73 countries, 270 themes and 58 currencies - that's the Gift Cards Catalog! 1,300+ registered collectors have developed the catalog, making it one of the biggest categories on Colnect.

"Hannukah candlestick", Canada, from the Colnect catalog

We are incredibly grateful to the Category coordinator - Claude Martin [Claude]. Our catalog would not be as unique and as interesting, without your help.

"Pilipinas Eagle", Philippines, from the Colnect catalog

Additionally, many thanks to our dear category contributors for adding so much amazing content.

"Clef", France, from the Colnect catalog

And surely, we are thankful to editors for keeping everything in order - editors Dieter Siedel [jrds26], Eyüp Güçmen [kolleksiyon], Hans Meeuwisse [steamtrain], Irina Alferova [alfcard], Karl Heinz Degener [neizi] and others.

"Calendar", Japan, from the Colnect catalog

Our catalog constantly requires help from you, our dear collectors. Please take a look on The Contribution Guidelines and develop our community!

"KaDeWe Berlin", Germany, from the Colnect catalog

You are welcome to participate in our gift card collectors poll -  How often do you use gift cards?:)

"B&G Store", Turkey, from the Colnect catalog 

Happy Colnecting! :)

66,666 Postcards on Colnect!

Is '666' considered a devilish number in your country? Today we're putting all our stereotypical thinking away to commemorate a nice milestone we've recently reached - 66,666 Postcards!

The Postcards catalog has been present on Colnect for roughly 6 years, so that's a lot of 6-s for one day, which is also the 6th of January of 2016! How crazy is that?

"Tokyo Station", from the Colnect catalog

First off, we are sending a huge thank-you to the category co-coordinators, Vadym Sulimenko [Dravec] and Grzegorz Pająk [quarteris] for working hard on one of the most popular categories on Colnect! :) 

"Niue Island – Polynesia", from the Colnect catalog

Moreover, thank you to the translators that have made the postcards collecting available for 799 collectors from 70+ countries.

Another group of colnectors we are sending our regards to are editors, they have done an impressive work, keeping the category organised. 

"Tallinn. Spire of Town Hall with "Old Thomas" Weathercock", 
from the Colnect catalog

And, of course, the catalog would not be so diverse without the help of each and every one of contributors. Thank you for every postcard added onto Colnect! The Postcards catalog is currently divided into countries, authors, issuers, colorings, orientations, views, years, themes and newly added.  

 "Torshavn", from the Colnect catalog

                         

The catalog currently includes postcards from 250+ countries. Check them out! Do you have a favourite postcard from your country? By the way, the country that the most postcards are from is Soviet Union! Here's an example:  

"Baikal. Lake in Winter", from the Colnect catalog

So, to sum up, we are really thrilled to see the category growing. We encourage you to study the How Can I Contribute? page to add more postcards, to edit information or to add missing photos/data. Note that many contributors on Colnect enjoy having a free Premium Membership simply by helping the community.

"Awaiting the day's catch", from the Colnect catalog 

 Thank you for being a Colnector! Let's make an even  bigger number of postcards!

Surprising Lego Facts

It wouldn’t surprise us if we see a stack of Lego sets at our friends’ places. Lego, the universal game, has become probably the most popular entertainment for children and adults. Various difficulty levels, numerous collections, different theme parks around the world and many more features make this game such a great investment as a collectible.

Spider Monkey, from the Colnect catalog

Today we would like you to get familiar with some of the most impressive facts about Lego that you probably never heard of. Even if have heard those before, come and brush up your memory! :)

Let us know which fact gripped you the most in the comments below.

1. The Lego group got the patent rights for the standard brick in 1958. All 2x4 Lego bricks ever produced have been exactly the same.

2. Statistically, there are ~1140 elements made per second (!). 

 Small Pre-School Basic Set Minitalia, from the Colnect catalog

3. On average, every person has 83 Lego bricks. Crazy, no? 

4. Almost 28 Lego sets are sold each second during the Christmas season.

Three Christmas Decorations - Santa Tree and Snowman, from the Colnect catalog

5. If you lay together all Lego bricks sold in a year, the line would stretch around the Earth 20+ times. 

6. The world's tallest Lego tower is 28.7m high (made from with 465,000 bricks).

 

Sears Tower, from the Colnect catalog

7. Willing to reach the Moon? You'd need a column of around 40 billion Lego bricks!

8. Since the first Lego minifigure was made in 1978, more than 4 billion have been manufactured – making it the largest population group in the world. In addition, every minifigure is exactly 4 bricks tall (without a hat).

 

Day 1 - Minifigure & Drumstick, from the Colnect catalog 

9. The exact number of combinations you can get from connecting 6 eight-stud bricks (2x4) is 915,103,765!

10. Currently there are Lego theme parks in Denmark, The UK, The USA, Germany and Malaysia. The construction work is still ongoing for new Lego theme parks in The UAE (opening 2016), South Korea and Japan.

"LEGOLAND Picture Frame - Billund Edition", from the Colnect catalog

Colnect’s Lego sets catalog currently has more than 6.700 sets. To find out more about the history of the toy and our catalog, have a look at 80th Anniversary for the LEGO name post.

You are also welcome to participate in the Lego poll!