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[COLLECTORS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE] Sovetskii filatelist. Sovetskii kollektsioner. Radio de Filintern [i.e. Soviet Philatelist. Soviet Collector. Radio de Filintern] #1-12 for 1926

Moscow: Sovetskii filatelist, 1926. Item #1806

26,5x18 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. In all, very good condition, upper edge of No.1 chipped, minor stains on front cover of No.3, water stains on back cover and some leaves of No.10, spine of No.12 chipped.

Printrun of all issues is 2000 copies. Cover design was created by A. Mazin. The editor-in-chief was Feodor Chuchin (1883-1941, executed) known as the father of Soviet philately.
This is a year set of an early Soviet periodical that is related to an officially accepted type of collecting. It emerged as “Soviet Philatelist” in 1922 and was published under this title for two years. Then, in 1925 it became “Soviet Collector”. Throughout 1926-1927, the magazine came out in a combined form “Soviet Philatelist. Soviet Collector. Radio de Filintern”. For 1928-1932, publishers returned to the title “Soviet Collector” until they ceased publication.
The triple title of 1926 issues meant the consolidation of three publications – 1)organ of the Commissioner for Philately and Scripophily in the USSR; 2)organ of the All-Union Society of Collectors; 3)organ of Philatelic International – as sections of a single edition. They were edited by F. Chuchin, V. Bessonov and L. Eichfuss respectively.
In Soviet conditions, any interaction with foreign collectors was available through such state institutions. The Organisation of the Commissioner for Philately and Scripophily emerged in Moscow in 1922 for matters concerned with philately and bonds. A revolutionary Feodor Chuchin headed the organization. During the Civil War and work of the Central Famine Relief Committee (POMGOL), Chuchin was a commissioner for matters pertaining to stamp donations. In 1924, he became one of the founders of Philatelic International (Filintern), an international philatelic society of proletarian collectors. Among its tasks was “propaganda of the international union of philatelist-workers of all nations for the struggle against organized philatelist-dealers”.
The magazine published official materials: the statutes of the All-Union Society of Philatelists (VOF) and its local branches, productions of the All-Union Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars on philately, instructions on the procedure for foreign exchange, news, reviews of other philatelic magazines, comments on fake stamps, the location of VOF members and subscribers and a small number of research articles. Occasionally, photographs of stamps were reproduced.
Officially, possessiveness, collecting and free trade couldn’t get along with the settings of the material world in the Soviet country. After the Revolution, antiquarian books and items were immediately withdrawn by Bolshevik authorities, then either sent to museums or sold abroad for financing recovery and industrialization of the country. Ordinary collectors went into an underground existence and interaction.
It wasn’t risky to collect everything that was somehow connected with symbols of the newly formed state: badges or dishes with the coat of arms, portraits of leaders, images of workers and peasants, also stamps, coins, postcards, vehicle models, candy wrappers, etc. In any printed edition, a banned name might be found and provoke authorities.

Worldcat shows copies located in LoC and NYPL.

Price: $1,200.00