Hello, comrades! My name is Sergei. I was born in the USSR in 1971. Since 1999 I have lived in the USA. Ushanka Show channel was created to share stories as well as my own memories of everyday life in the USSR. My book about arriving in America in 1995 is available on Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B08DJ7RNTC My site: www.sputnikoff.com/ "Ushanka Show" is a collection of stories about life in the USSR. Please contact me at sergeisputnikoff@gmail.com if you would like to purchase a signed copy of “American Diaries” You can support this project here: www.patreon.com/sputnikoff with monthly donations Support for this channel via PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow Ushanka Show merchandise: teespring.com/stores/ushanka-show-shop If you are curious to try some of the Soviet-era candy and other foodstuffs, please use the link below. www.russiantable.com/imported-russian-chocolate-mishka-kosolapy__146-14.html?tracking=5a6933a9095f9 My FB: facebook.com/sergey.sputnikoff Twitter: twitter.com/ushankashow Instagram: instagram.com/ushanka_show/ Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/The_Ushanka_Show/
in the early to mid 90s those turbo stickers were collected,trade and played ; ) ) the stickers were played almost like chupa chups caps.. u put face down.,. hit it iwth ur hgand like flipping ur hand (hard to explain) , all the pics facing up.. you won for yourself.. : )) ... ah you already sayd it was played... :D u started out with donald stickers.. but everyone moved onto Car / Combat Jet / Military stickers pretty fast, those Turbo gums tasted so good.. but i remember latyer Hubbabubba killed them :D im surprised how the fck this ended up here in Estonia... AFTER the soviet collapse, maybe i learned this when i was really young from some russians lol ;] It might have been Kalev factory, but that's Estonian company actually. Didn't even know that there was Kalev factory in Latvia during soviet union.. :D It's still the most known candy factory / chocolate factory.. major one, monopoly practically.. wich is now know nevcen internationally . i disagree, best 2quality wrappers were Turbo , full-color photo pictures of cars etc... or you meant the quality of material? Where's the video?... Wonder if products like this is still sold? :D kids need to play more wrappers, less watch tiktok lol... :DDD
@@gustavgnoettgen awesome im american but my last name is german its gross, i was told it means strong man in dutch we pronounce it the same as the english word gross, is that the same way you pronounce my last name?
@@gustavgnoettgen yeah, thanks man, i knew about the ß letter, on facebook i spell my last name as Größ . I dont know what the 2 dots above o means though i just thought it looked cool
Hello from Ohio! Thank you for your stories, Sergei. You've inspired me to expand upon the backstory of one of my characters (in a book I'm working on) who grew up in the USSR. Keep up the great content!
Growing up in post GDR i "collected" stamps aswell! With collecting i mean i sat next to my grandma who had stamps from all over the world and she gave me the ones she had double. I even have some of the soviet ones you showed! i also remember my dad telling me that he always went to the train station where foreigners from the west arrived and threw their cans, so he could collect them. Listening to your videos is like sitting at a family gathering and hear relatives talking about the old times. Keep up the good work! Drushba!
My father was a high ranking Captain in the U.S. Navy and met with Russian's when they came to Boston harbor in the 1990's. He received a huge box of badges and patches which were a gift to him. I have those now and some of the badges are identical to the one's you displayed.
Your right Sergei, the Russian concepts if "old" and " Antique" are very different. I would talk about my home, roughly 135 years old. An antique in my mind. Antiques in Russia are from Middle Ages....😉
@@robertwesolowski2383 I noticed too that city terms, while mostly identical, had vastly different descriptions. I'm from Iowa, so my " Small Town" has 400 people. ( Dont buy that, sign says so)😊 Yet my interpreter viewed my town from above on Google Earth. She smiled widely. " Eric, you live in a cute little Micro- Village." Smallest village she ever saw. To her a " Small Town" is the one we in. Ya know, 350,000 people. A " Big City" was Moscow, Minsk, Kiev, etc. Multiple millions of people.... Hard concept for former Iowa farm boy to grapple with.😉
@@ericgoingoverseas5064 I see cities the same way, being from Los Angeles. A million and above is big. 100,000+ is a medium city. 1,000+ is a small town. Less than that is a village.
14:40 in your video is tin boxes, down left is teabox, my father visit in USSR at 80's and bring that same tea to us and some russian candy. I must say i don't like russian candy then very much, but that tea was good! We put little music box that tea box, theme was International. My father still have that tea box.
Drinks in glass bottle tastes a lot better! Toy cars I did collect myself. Now many years later I gave these to my second daughter and many of them got destroyed after 30 years I was playing with these daily. I kept them very well as these had hi value for me.
I've dabbled in collecting inexpensive Soviet / Russian watches. They had some very unique designs unlike anything in the west. For example I have a Poljot 'Stadium' and Raketa 'Big Zero' quartz. They still make Vostok Amphibia and Vostok Komandirskie watches in Russia. These have developed a following in the west and easy to get online. They are known for being inexpensive, reliable, and rugged mechanical watches. The Amphibia in particular is a legitimate diving watch that costs half the price of the next least expensive legit mechanical dive watch from Seiko or Orient.
Greetings from California, I'm a fellow stamp collector too. I love hearing stories of people who grew up in the Eastern Bloc. Its better to learn from the actual people then the mass media. Love those stamp old kiosk photos!
We were living in Canada when the Soviet union broke up. We were very active in our local science fiction club and were constantly reading. Within about 2 months of that "event", the person who handled correspondence from club to club or authors and movie people got a lovely letter from some people in Kiev saying that they were so excited to hopefully be able start corresponding with science fiction fans from other countries now that things were much more open. We all enthusiastically responded. Over time, since they kept asking us for names of authors and titles of Canadian books, we started mailing copies of books for them. They responded in kind and while none of us read or spoke Ukrainian or Russian, it was a lot of fun to receive books by known eastern bloc authors like Stanislav Lem in the original language. That delightful period of avid correspondence and book discussions lasted for about 10 years or so and we all enjoyed it so much. In time, Kiev hosted their own SF convention and one or two people (not us, sadly) attended. Then we moved to the US and were out of the loop. It was a fun time. As a sort of side benefit, my husband was and still is a very dedicated plastic modeler and theire were some kits going back and forth in that medium, too!
You'll love this Sergei. As a kid my wife used to collect paper napkins aka salfetka or салфетка. She eventually had a big box full from all over the USSR and Eastern Europe. Anyone who the family knew who travelled was told to bring serviettes. She had pen pals from all over Russia and they sent her them too. Childhood treasure from distant lands! Sweet.
I got about halfway through the video but I fell asleep on the sofa. When I woke up I finished the rest. Sounded pretty grim but I love how kids and adults found fun in all sorts of things back then.
Thank you Sergei,another pleasantly paced nostalgia video..It is interesting how people have similar hobbies,Down here in Australia,we had stamp collecting too, mostly stamps removed from letters but you could also buy packets of stamps from mail order houses,such as Seven Seas stamps of Dubbo NSW..these usually came on sets such as "25 Oriental stamps assortment".. When we had airmail letters or something with the stamp printed on,it was kept complete as a " Philatelic item"..Never came across any cigarette packet collectors though quite probably some..Toy cars was a pretty big hobby even today,Matchbox,Corgi,etc many brands..have seen some USSR toy cars like you showed down here at collectors swap meets..prices arent that high for them..We had bubblegum but werent into collecting the wrappers as much as the trading cards inside..These cards were either sports or movie related,encouraging you to follow the sport or go see the movie..I remember BATMAN cards,007 James Bond,and "The battle of Britain" movie..that last one if you collected enough empty wrappers,25 I think it was, and mailed them back to the manufacturer of the gum,( forget who it was..)they would send you a free cinema ticket so see "Battle of Britain"... Some people collect watches nowadays,but back then 60s and 70s, watches were rare and expensive,only got cheaper following LCD digital ones..Only knew one fellow who collected beer cans..many people collected LP records buying several a week,they werent expensive..Thanks again
Hungarian here :My mother used to collect stamps when she was a kid, in the late 70s early - mid 80s, she even had stamps from the USSR which I think it's super cool, I own that collection now, it's awesome!
I have a number of Soviet era 1/43 scale autos that I purchased from Sinclair's Auto Miniatures of Erie, PA way back in the 1970's. Back then, a Made in USSR (CCCP) diecast model of a Moskvitch 412 sedan sold for about $6.00. Today, you can purchase the same car via eBay from folks in Russia and countries like Poland and Bulgaria for around $25.00.
You realise stamps are a lot older than Pokémon? The stamp collecting of the USSR was the same as the stamp collecting in the West. I was born 1980 and I collected stamps until 1994. Pokémon didn’t always exist - you do know that, yeah?
What about non collection hobbies? Did people go to gym, run, cycle, tune cars, repair electronics, ride horses, dance, play water polo, cook or homebrew?
1. Free weights gyms were all illegal and underground. Bodybuilding was seen as “bourgeois sport”. 2. All other sports were encouraged. 3. “Tune cars” - yes, those few who owned cars did tune them. 4. “Ride horses” - private horse 🐴 owning was not possible, but there were some equestrian schools. 5. Cooking was a must, especially for women, because no quality ready foods were widely available. 6. “Homebrewing” was very widespread in the countryside, despite being illegal. People brewed moonshine, because alcohol was in shortage and was expensive
@@РусланЗаурбеков-з6е :) Ok, let me correct myself: Bodybuilding was not illegal in the USSR, but it was not supported by the government either. So, BB enthusiasts had to create amateur clubs in the factory cellars (quite a literal "underground"!), with makeshift equipment. It was not like today, you could not just come to the gym and hire a trainer: you were supposed to become a member of a rather closed "club" or "team" of enthusiasts. Here is a good video: ua-cam.com/video/obhmrKZG0vM/v-deo.html
Sergei, get a cheap metal detector and search around your parents' house for the die-cast cars. I did the same thing and found about 10 Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars so far-some of them pretty rare. They hold up surprisingly well.
Over the years, with my strong lifelong interest in the Soviet Union and Russia (I grew up in the Cold War USA), I have accumulated a variety of Soviet items. The visiting Russian teacher at my high school (I studied Russian language) gave me a few Soviet pins proclaiming Perestroika and Glasnost and a book of Pushkin's poetry (in Russian of course). A year later she shipped me a small package of Russian glass syringes (I am also a collector of glass syringes and other antique medical instruments). In more recent years I have collected Soviet military and labour (Veteran Truda) medals and badges and more Russian syringes. I also have a ushanka fur hat, and a few other kinds of items that have passed my way (I had a prima balalaika with the CCCP pentagram symbol). During the period when I lived in London, England, I used to plane-spot at Heathrow and saw many old Russian built airliners land there. One day I will visit Russia.
Привет! Я тоже, собираю и люблю медицинскую тематику 50-80 годов. Начал собирать с 2003 года. Это плакаты-просвещения о болезнях, книги о хирургии, психиатрии,стеклянные шприцы, скальпели, стоматологические инструменты. Но, так же люблю, открытки с городами.
5 років тому+3
man haven't seen a pack of 'karo' in at least 30 years... love your channel!
Haha could you make a video (or include in a video) superstitions that Russians notoriously adhere to. I’ve heard some funny ones, and can imagine you know a few as well.
Just think....most American or probably any other foriegn tourist would have no idea how in demand even little things like bubble gum wrappers were. You might have learned this if you took a Russian language course. That probably depended on the teacher. If you had Russian friends, depending on how close you were to them, you might learn this. Of course, that is if you paid attention to them! This is the type of information that would have been very good to know if you were traveling to the Soviet Union or Russia!
Ushanka, did you have any toys you played with as a kid? cars, trains, toy soldiers? or was there a toy you always wanted but could not afford or was not available?
I agree with your view on antiques. My definition of antiques is morbid but represents the reality of what makes the items special. Antiques: items used by people in a past time and a time of which no one is alive.
Omg. My boy friends and their damn cars!!!! I collected trucks to move my dolls around. 😂 I just realized Tolkuchki is from the word tolk and not from the word push. Mind-Blown 😂
Im from former Yugoslavia and we basically collected the same things as people did in The Soviet union. But if you were 13-14 and older you probably had a Tomos moped. So many of us who were interested in motorcycles collected motorcycle parts like: carburetors, cogs, cylinders and pistons. I personally have over 100 pistons in my garage😂. And obviously many of us collected motorcycle 1:43 scale models.
@@TakeMeOffYourMailingList Ignore him, he does not have a degree in everything, like I do, im actually part of the 0,0001% highest IQ people in Germany, so youll have to believe me
I still collect stamps and badges and old money. I even have an old die-cast car from the '80s... It's an old zastava 101. It's a cool thing. Also I actually found two postcards from Soviet Union and well they are very interesting.
Bruh, the calendars brought back memories I didn’t even know were there! Also as a kid I didn’t smoke but we ripped the top of cigarette boxes and folded them in a way that they’re flat. I had so many different ones! Also the gum...legendary.
Nice I remember penny candy here in the states. We had Chinese fortune gum . The flavor didn't last long but we loved it. And it had a fortune inside like a fortune cookie. That was in the 80s.
Rekord (briefly seen at 21:29 on the top center) was Czechoslovak chewing gum and each one inclued small piece of waxed paper with Guiness record shown on it, usually some highest, tallest or so made-by-man things which you could also collect. I remember getting that one a lot as kid. There were some 40 pieces of records total and some kids were trying to get them all real hard as certain ones were almost impossible to obtain (I think there was one of which only like 100 or so pieces in total were made at all and whoever had it was Rekord king. It was same prestige as if having some thousand dollar MTG card.)
I started up written correspondences with people in the USSR back in the 80's and 90's, sending US toys, records and various odds and ends as gifts to people there who were helping me with research into Russian film makers, special effects people, writers etc. Because of these communications I received in return, the kinds of stamps, calendars and medals you talk about in this video. Some of the stamps in particular are quite elaborate and very artistically attractive. So...I wound up with a lot of these collectables from earlier decades in the USSR. (I'd really like to find a matchbox of the 1924 Russian science fiction film, AELITA, which was distributed at the time!--that'd be cool. I wonder how many other Soviet era films turned up on matchbox covers and other objects?) Were there no comic books or newspaper comic strips in the USSR? Seems like those would have made for good collectables. Thanks for the video.
That volley ball stamp is cool. You know the women on that team got special benefits that made their lives a bit easier. My best friend in college had defected and shortly after the collapse her mother came to visit the US. Her mother gave me an Olympic coin from 1984, the year the USSR didn't compete. It's not really worth anything but I think it's pretty cool. I am guessing they spent the money to mint those coins so they decided to go ahead and put them in circulation even with the boycott. One found it's way into my humble collection and I think it's pretty cool. It's probably my least valuable coin as far as $$ but I gotta say, it's my favorite coin.
When I was a kid in the US, we had all sorts of things that we prized and traded with each other. Besides stamps or coin collecting which were popular, we also collected baseball cards, airplane cards, 3 different monster cards series, outer space cards, Davy Crockett cards and many others as well. I once had a matchbook collection which I added to as time went on and its value increased exponentially as the printed addresses for stores or restaurants that were depicted, closed down or went out of business, but it seems that I lost sight of it when I moved house since years ago. Something to do!
That is absolutely insane that people in the Soviet Union collected basically what people here in the United States at the same time, it makes you wonder what hardwiring in the brain says I need this stamp and all of these stamps. Also as a side note you'll have to forgive us Americans for thinking something 30 years old is an antique our country's only been around for a few hundred.
Soviet people seem to like to collect small and cute things. Interestingly, they have the same hobbies as me, born in a western country in the 2000's! Also, since I was a child, I have enjoyed collecting unique old objects. When I visited my grandmother's house, I was really happy to spend time exploring her dusty old storage room and got a lot of things from her. My dad said I collect useless stuff, but I feel like I own a precious piece of history that was manufactured before I was born.
People here in the US also collected match boxes, but long long ago, mostly before my time. I can remember seeing some as a child, but they were old even then. When I was very young they were mostly replaced by the horrible book matches you mention.
It was sort of the opposite in North America, the boxes of matches didn't normally have fancy labels but the books of matches did. Collecting matchbooks is an inexpensive hobby, many restaurants,bars, nightclubs, hotels, motels, and other businesses had them printed up with their name, location, address, phone number, etc. printed on them along with a logo of some kind. Postcards is another good one along the same lines, a lot of the same sorts of businesses that had matchbooks printed up for advertising also gave away postcards.
No, still almost independent... AS Kalev (2006-2012 Kalev Chocolate Factory AS) is an Estonian confectionery company. The company can trace its origins back two hundred years, the business that preceded the Maiasmokk cafe was founded in 1806, and is now owned by Kalev. The Kalev company is now a part of the industrial conglomerate Orkla Group. Since 2003, it has been based in Põrguvälja near Jüri, Rae Parish, Harju County.
Did anyone in your Village have an Amateur Radio for a hobby? I see next to nothing on that subject on UA-cam: Amateur Radio in the USSR. Also: Chess. I think even with all of the computer games and simulations available today, there is no finer game of strategy that challenges the skill of intellect than Chess, ever. Ever! All the Best! Sincerely, William Pietschman (W8LV)
I think amateur radio in SU was as hard to get as a gun. Many thing we take for granted here in US where illegal or highly restricted in SU for the ordinary citizen.
@@kpkndusa It was difficult but not impossible especially if you were a communist party member! Yes there were many hams and ham radio clubs in the USSR!
Yes Ham Radio was popular there as a hobby and today still is (im a ham myself)but you were required to be a communist party member and join a radio club and were subject to a lot of scrutiny . for one to get on the air one had to build their own radios ,antennas, amps etc or use modified military surplus gear if available. This could be difficult if you lived in a tiny apartment shared with another family, so most Soviet hams had to operate from club stations (ie school college or university).There was even a magazine called RADIO published monthly .Also Soviet hams during the early years(ie during Stalin’s time) could only make contacts with other communist bloc countries until the ban was lifted around 1957 with Sputnik. Also they were forbidden to give out their exact address over the air they had to exchange QSL cards via post office box 88 Moscow for further scrutiny. Conversation was often limited to the exchange of their call sign ,name ,signal strength report rarely much else mostly a hi and bye conversation usually in Morse code only. Even today many ex USSR hams are still active on the air!
Regarding computers the soviets only began to manufacture micro computers mainly for schools around the mid to late 80s . But the electronic components though built domestically were usually a poorer copy of a western designed chip or circuit and were nearly impossible for a private citizen to get or afford, so a hobby black market arose of trying to homebrew computer circuit boards and chips for use by hobbyists also one couldn’t just go out and buy any programs they were usually compiled by do it yourself programmers or smuggled in from abroad .Remember the game Tetris? .It was actually designed by a Soviet computer programmer in his home!
My grandmother and aunt collected matchbooks. Boxes of wooden matches were meh. They wanted matchbooks more than anything else and they had ginormous jars stuffed with matchbooks from hotels and bars all over the country and the world. It always blew me away how intricate the art was on each one. Could spend hours just looking at each individual book of matches.
Funny, I grow up in 80s and 90s (West)-Germany and I collected police and fire brigade badges and patches. My Grandpa was a state attorney so he was kind of at the source and gifted me a great number of those.
In the US because we make so much stuff an antique is >50 years and vintage is >25 years. Anything more is a historical item I believe. As less of a material culture at the time antiques at 100 yrs would make sense.
In Mexico "commemorative" stamps weren't put for postage. There were official stamps for postage which were pretty much the same. Special topic stamps would get a special cancellation and then they were made available to collectors, but because it had been cancelled officially they could not be used for postage, even though unlike the USSR they were sold unstamped.
Sergeontheloo, You talk about the value of the Soviet car models being quote valuable today. I was born in Australia. I received a Russian watch with a buzzer alarm. This was the age where digital watches in the West were all the rage. After school we went to a watch repairer. The so called cool kids with their Star Wars digital watches were shocked. The watch repairer valued the plastic digital Star Wars watches at $15 dollars. My Russian made watch was valued back in 1980 at $100. Seiko and Omega watches cost between $60 to $80. Long story short. In late 1981 I left it at a watch repair shop. The owner said that the watch was broken and could not be repaired. However, he gave me $40 which is strange. I was really shy and didn't say anything. A friend of mine told a teacher. The teacher told me that the watch repairer robbed me. He knew Russian watches were highly valued and the fact he gave me $40 meant the watch was worth $300 to 400 in 1981. This was the cost of some designer watches in the West.
Aha! the watch repair man was operating on the capitalist prime directive. How can I make myself more powerful with money? By cheating other people out of their resources! Its like the man in America who raised the cost of insulin. He explained it is his "moral obligation" to make a profit however it can be made. Do some poor people die because they can't afford the price? He doesn't care.
in the US around this time, small electronics and homemade hobby computers were gaining popularity. did people in the Soviet Union work with or create electronics as a hobby? or was this discouraged by the government?
Don't know how about in USSR, here in Czechoslovakia there were Hi-Fi clubs focused on consumer electronics, radio amateurs running private radio stations etc. There was also organization for civil cooperation with military which run RC modelars, electronis courses etc. The everlasting problem was accessibility of parts and high prices. Also east block products were lower quality and import was obstructed (by embargo from West and lack of foreign exchange)
Yes Electronics and computers were popular but most Soviet electronics particularly computers were difficult to buy . Most of the hardware and computer chips were poorer copies of western hardware and software. so many would be people had a magazine called RADIO that show cased DIY amature "Ham" Radio and Computer kits. Also regarding the software one couldnt just go out and buy it in a govt store so an underground black market of trying to smuggle in programs or reverse engineer them often took place Remember the game Tetris?..it was created by a Soviet amatuer programmer in his home back in 1984!
i have seen a giant book from my great grandfather with coins the size of your hand,unfortunately it was lost somewhere or somebody sold it.And another relative i remember as a kid had a giant collection of metal toy car models....good stuff
As a kid I'd always got and collected those diecast vehicles by HotWheels,Matchbox,Siku,etc. As well as coins and paper money from around the world but mostly coins..BUT my most unusual and costly hobby was acquiring law enforcement memorbilia, It all started when a teacher brought in a patch from her husband who was a trooper in Minnesota, I'd still have this if I hadn't wore it every school day pined to my TShirts. This grew into a hobby of collecting badges eventually as well as patches, I imagine this would have been impossible in U.S.S.R., not just the expense but a Militioner (police official) giving you his badges and patches might be frowned upon and also get the officer into trouble.
One of the most awesome Soviet/ Russian sport/ hobby is motorcycle ice racing. The Russians and the former Soviet countries are the best in the world. Grew up in Wisconsin racing motorcycles on ice in the mid 70s.
I have some toy tractors from East Germany. My grandparents got them just before the Wall came down. I played with them all the time as a kid without realizing their significance, lol
I collect rocks, silver, musical instruments, and guns to name a few. The first one is what I built my business on being a lapidary artist. The last one is why I'm glad to be American, although my favorite rifle was made in the Soviet Union.😁The top left commemorative Ruble coin in that picture is the one I told you that I made a ring from. The 20 year victory over fascist Germany.
I had a toy Moskvich car made in USSR when I was a kid. Now LukOil gas stations offer newly made models of old Soviet cars - I have a Volga 21, a GAZ Pobeda, an Emka (GAZ m-1) , Moskvich 400, UAZ Jeep and van, RAF 2203...
my parents were born in the USSR in 1970 too, looking at this I kind of wanna go back and experience the life that they had, seems different but also very fun
You can purchase USPS "reply cards" (post cards) and envelopes with printed postage, no need for affixing stamp. I recall reading the Soviet Union postal system had a similar type of its law enforcement investigators, due to the fact the post office managed the phone lines and other communications systems. Unlike their U.S. counterparts who aren't especially well known, I recall reading that the Soviet postal investigators were amongst the most feared law enforcement/gov agencies.
Greetings Comrade! You mentioned you like stamps with animals, while there were also those documenting achievements in Space exploration; I was wondering if there was a set celebrating the first dogs in space?
Hello, comrades!
My name is Sergei. I was born in the USSR in 1971. Since 1999 I have lived in the USA.
Ushanka Show channel was created to share stories as well as my own memories of everyday life in the USSR.
My book about arriving in America in 1995 is available on Amazon:
www.amazon.com/dp/B08DJ7RNTC
My site: www.sputnikoff.com/
"Ushanka Show" is a collection of stories about life in the USSR.
Please contact me at sergeisputnikoff@gmail.com if you would like to purchase a signed copy of “American Diaries”
You can support this project here: www.patreon.com/sputnikoff with monthly donations
Support for this channel via PAYPAL: paypal.me/ushankashow
Ushanka Show merchandise:
teespring.com/stores/ushanka-show-shop
If you are curious to try some of the Soviet-era candy and other foodstuffs, please use the link below.
www.russiantable.com/imported-russian-chocolate-mishka-kosolapy__146-14.html?tracking=5a6933a9095f9
My FB: facebook.com/sergey.sputnikoff
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in the early to mid 90s those turbo stickers were collected,trade and played ; ) )
the stickers were played almost like chupa chups caps.. u put face down.,. hit it iwth ur hgand like flipping ur hand (hard to explain) , all the pics facing up.. you won for yourself.. : ))
... ah you already sayd it was played... :D u started out with donald stickers.. but everyone moved onto Car / Combat Jet / Military stickers pretty fast, those Turbo gums tasted so good.. but i remember latyer Hubbabubba killed them :D
im surprised how the fck this ended up here in Estonia... AFTER the soviet collapse, maybe i learned this when i was really young from some russians lol ;]
It might have been Kalev factory, but that's Estonian company actually. Didn't even know that there was Kalev factory in Latvia during soviet union.. :D It's still the most known candy factory / chocolate factory.. major one, monopoly practically.. wich is now know nevcen internationally .
i disagree, best 2quality wrappers were Turbo , full-color photo pictures of cars etc... or you meant the quality of material?
Where's the video?...
Wonder if products like this is still sold? :D
kids need to play more wrappers, less watch tiktok lol... :DDD
My dad grew up in the soviet union, and your account of these popular hobbies really gives me an insight into how he grew up. Thanks for that!
🙏
40 years ago: *collecting stamps*
Now: *collecting Monster bottles*
Why do boomers love energetic drinks. I started to drink them after 35 for no reason. Maybe the lack of natural body energy causes this phenomenon
@@gustavgnoettgen never heard of that beer, whats the origin?
@@gustavgnoettgen are you german?
@@gustavgnoettgen awesome im american but my last name is german its gross, i was told it means strong man in dutch we pronounce it the same as the english word gross, is that the same way you pronounce my last name?
@@gustavgnoettgen yeah, thanks man, i knew about the ß letter, on facebook i spell my last name as Größ . I dont know what the 2 dots above o means though i just thought it looked cool
Hello from Ohio! Thank you for your stories, Sergei. You've inspired me to expand upon the backstory of one of my characters (in a book I'm working on) who grew up in the USSR. Keep up the great content!
what's your book about?
Wow crazy someone from Ohio watching his stuff too
I'm from Akron
@ Warren here.
Growing up in post GDR i "collected" stamps aswell! With collecting i mean i sat next to my grandma who had stamps from all over the world and she gave me the ones she had double. I even have some of the soviet ones you showed! i also remember my dad telling me that he always went to the train station where foreigners from the west arrived and threw their cans, so he could collect them.
Listening to your videos is like sitting at a family gathering and hear relatives talking about the old times. Keep up the good work! Drushba!
My father was a high ranking Captain in the U.S. Navy and met with Russian's when they came to Boston harbor in the 1990's. He received a huge box of badges and patches which were a gift to him. I have those now and some of the badges are identical to the one's you displayed.
Keep them safe man
Scott Gallant “Let’s eat grandma” vs “Let’s eat, grandma.” Proper punctuation saves lives. It does not save live’s.
Your right Sergei, the Russian concepts if "old" and " Antique" are very different.
I would talk about my home, roughly 135 years old. An antique in my mind.
Antiques in Russia are from Middle Ages....😉
There’s old and then there is Eastern European old
@@robertwesolowski2383 I noticed too that city terms, while mostly identical, had vastly different descriptions.
I'm from Iowa, so my " Small Town" has 400 people. ( Dont buy that, sign says so)😊
Yet my interpreter viewed my town from above on Google Earth. She smiled widely. " Eric, you live in a cute little Micro- Village." Smallest village she ever saw.
To her a " Small Town" is the one we in. Ya know, 350,000 people. A " Big City" was Moscow, Minsk, Kiev, etc.
Multiple millions of people.... Hard concept for former Iowa farm boy to grapple with.😉
@@ericgoingoverseas5064 I see cities the same way, being from Los Angeles. A million and above is big. 100,000+ is a medium city. 1,000+ is a small town. Less than that is a village.
14:40 in your video is tin boxes, down left is teabox, my father visit in USSR at 80's and bring that same tea to us and some russian candy. I must say i don't like russian candy then very much, but that tea was good! We put little music box that tea box, theme was International. My father still have that tea box.
Its great to have a smoke and chill to the Ushanka Show, realy enjoy the stories, thanks for sharing and keep up the good work👍
Drinks in glass bottle tastes a lot better! Toy cars I did collect myself. Now many years later I gave these to my second daughter and many of them got destroyed after 30 years I was playing with these daily. I kept them very well as these had hi value for me.
I've dabbled in collecting inexpensive Soviet / Russian watches. They had some very unique designs unlike anything in the west. For example I have a Poljot 'Stadium' and Raketa 'Big Zero' quartz. They still make Vostok Amphibia and Vostok Komandirskie watches in Russia. These have developed a following in the west and easy to get online. They are known for being inexpensive, reliable, and rugged mechanical watches. The Amphibia in particular is a legitimate diving watch that costs half the price of the next least expensive legit mechanical dive watch from Seiko or Orient.
And they keep pretty good time too
The only Vostok I have is a key wind wall clock from the 60's.
Greetings from California, I'm a fellow stamp collector too. I love hearing stories of people who grew up in the Eastern Bloc. Its better to learn from the actual people then the mass media. Love those stamp old kiosk photos!
Also those pocket calenders are really beautiful
Thank you for all of the experiences and time spent! You are doing great work sir!
We were living in Canada when the Soviet union broke up. We were very active in our local science fiction club and were constantly reading. Within about 2 months of that "event", the person who handled correspondence from club to club or authors and movie people got a lovely letter from some people in Kiev saying that they were so excited to hopefully be able start corresponding with science fiction fans from other countries now that things were much more open. We all enthusiastically responded. Over time, since they kept asking us for names of authors and titles of Canadian books, we started mailing copies of books for them. They responded in kind and while none of us read or spoke Ukrainian or Russian, it was a lot of fun to receive books by known eastern bloc authors like Stanislav Lem in the original language. That delightful period of avid correspondence and book discussions lasted for about 10 years or so and we all enjoyed it so much. In time, Kiev hosted their own SF convention and one or two people (not us, sadly) attended. Then we moved to the US and were out of the loop. It was a fun time. As a sort of side benefit, my husband was and still is a very dedicated plastic modeler and theire were some kits going back and forth in that medium, too!
You'll love this Sergei. As a kid my wife used to collect paper napkins aka salfetka or салфетка. She eventually had a big box full from all over the USSR and Eastern Europe. Anyone who the family knew who travelled was told to bring serviettes. She had pen pals from all over Russia and they sent her them too. Childhood treasure from distant lands! Sweet.
I got about halfway through the video but I fell asleep on the sofa. When I woke up I finished the rest.
Sounded pretty grim but I love how kids and adults found fun in all sorts of things back then.
Thanks!
Welcome!
I collect and have good collections of most :D Stamps, Postcards, coins, notes, znachke,...
Ive actually recently started collecting soviet medals and pins and im just fascinated with anything soviet. Great video.
Thank you Sergei,another pleasantly paced nostalgia video..It is interesting how people have similar hobbies,Down here in Australia,we had stamp collecting too, mostly stamps removed from letters but you could also buy packets of stamps from mail order houses,such as Seven Seas stamps of Dubbo NSW..these usually came on sets such as "25 Oriental stamps assortment".. When we had airmail letters or something with the stamp printed on,it was kept complete as a " Philatelic item"..Never came across any cigarette packet collectors though quite probably some..Toy cars was a pretty big hobby even today,Matchbox,Corgi,etc many brands..have seen some USSR toy cars like you showed down here at collectors swap meets..prices arent that high for them..We had bubblegum but werent into collecting the wrappers as much as the trading cards inside..These cards were either sports or movie related,encouraging you to follow the sport or go see the movie..I remember BATMAN cards,007 James Bond,and "The battle of Britain" movie..that last one if you collected enough empty wrappers,25 I think it was, and mailed them back to the manufacturer of the gum,( forget who it was..)they would send you a free cinema ticket so see "Battle of Britain"... Some people collect watches nowadays,but back then 60s and 70s, watches were rare and expensive,only got cheaper following LCD digital ones..Only knew one fellow who collected beer cans..many people collected LP records buying several a week,they werent expensive..Thanks again
Your dad sounds like a stand-up guy. Thanks for the very interesting channel.
Yes, what a loving father.
Hungarian here :My mother used to collect stamps when she was a kid, in the late 70s early - mid 80s, she even had stamps from the USSR which I think it's super cool, I own that collection now, it's awesome!
I have a number of Soviet era 1/43 scale autos that I purchased from Sinclair's Auto Miniatures of Erie, PA way back in the 1970's. Back then, a Made in USSR (CCCP) diecast model of a Moskvitch 412 sedan sold for about $6.00. Today, you can purchase the same car via eBay from folks in Russia and countries like Poland and Bulgaria for around $25.00.
Very interesting and informative video. Thank you.
So stamps were the pokemon cards of the Soviet union
most of the world really
In Soviet union stamps collect you
@@ivanosokor3997 Man I was going to write that and you beat me to the punch.
You realise stamps are a lot older than Pokémon? The stamp collecting of the USSR was the same as the stamp collecting in the West. I was born 1980 and I collected stamps until 1994. Pokémon didn’t always exist - you do know that, yeah?
@@KatKevaKelise 'Let me show you my stamp collection' used to be the equivalent of Netflix'n'chill here in Norway back in the 60s and 70s
What about non collection hobbies? Did people go to gym, run, cycle, tune cars, repair electronics, ride horses, dance, play water polo, cook or homebrew?
They homebrewed on the PSP since the 70s there.
All of the above. People were resourceful kinda like in Cuba. People would try to fix stuff and never throw anything away, just repurpose it.
1. Free weights gyms were all illegal and underground. Bodybuilding was seen as “bourgeois sport”. 2. All other sports were encouraged. 3. “Tune cars” - yes, those few who owned cars did tune them. 4. “Ride horses” - private horse 🐴 owning was not possible, but there were some equestrian schools. 5. Cooking was a must, especially for women, because no quality ready foods were widely available. 6. “Homebrewing” was very widespread in the countryside, despite being illegal. People brewed moonshine, because alcohol was in shortage and was expensive
@@jurisprudens "illegal" and "underground" was only Karate clubs, and other Asian martial sports.
@@РусланЗаурбеков-з6е :) Ok, let me correct myself: Bodybuilding was not illegal in the USSR, but it was not supported by the government either. So, BB enthusiasts had to create amateur clubs in the factory cellars (quite a literal "underground"!), with makeshift equipment. It was not like today, you could not just come to the gym and hire a trainer: you were supposed to become a member of a rather closed "club" or "team" of enthusiasts.
Here is a good video: ua-cam.com/video/obhmrKZG0vM/v-deo.html
I met a Czech fighter pilot, and he said, "In the USSR as a young boy you had a choice: build your muscles, or build plastic models!"
Sergei, get a cheap metal detector and search around your parents' house for the die-cast cars. I did the same thing and found about 10 Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars so far-some of them pretty rare. They hold up surprisingly well.
Great episode... great content... I recently subscribed and I really enjoy your videos
Over the years, with my strong lifelong interest in the Soviet Union and Russia (I grew up in the Cold War USA), I have accumulated a variety of Soviet items. The visiting Russian teacher at my high school (I studied Russian language) gave me a few Soviet pins proclaiming Perestroika and Glasnost and a book of Pushkin's poetry (in Russian of course). A year later she shipped me a small package of Russian glass syringes (I am also a collector of glass syringes and other antique medical instruments). In more recent years I have collected Soviet military and labour (Veteran Truda) medals and badges and more Russian syringes. I also have a ushanka fur hat, and a few other kinds of items that have passed my way (I had a prima balalaika with the CCCP pentagram symbol). During the period when I lived in London, England, I used to plane-spot at Heathrow and saw many old Russian built airliners land there. One day I will visit Russia.
Привет!
Я тоже, собираю и люблю медицинскую тематику 50-80 годов.
Начал собирать с 2003 года.
Это плакаты-просвещения о болезнях, книги о хирургии, психиатрии,стеклянные шприцы, скальпели, стоматологические инструменты.
Но, так же люблю,
открытки с городами.
man haven't seen a pack of 'karo' in at least 30 years... love your channel!
Ushanka the best hat in the world. Great post
Unless it's summer :)
Haha could you make a video (or include in a video) superstitions that Russians notoriously adhere to. I’ve heard some funny ones, and can imagine you know a few as well.
Kalev is from Estonia by the way. And it still works today.
Just think....most American or probably any other foriegn tourist would have no idea how in demand even little things like bubble gum wrappers were. You might have learned this if you took a Russian language course. That probably depended on the teacher. If you had Russian friends, depending on how close you were to them, you might learn this. Of course, that is if you paid attention to them! This is the type of information that would have been very good to know if you were traveling to the Soviet Union or Russia!
im american 16 i collect stamps and got some Soviet other Communist nation stamps
Ushanka, did you have any toys you played with as a kid? cars, trains, toy soldiers? or was there a toy you always wanted but could not afford or was not available?
He had wooden toys that were nailed to the floor
The Kalev factory is in Estonia, not Riga, Latvia :)
I agree with your view on antiques.
My definition of antiques is morbid but represents the reality of what makes the items special.
Antiques: items used by people in a past time and a time of which no one is alive.
Postage stamp collecting was big here in Australia too at the time... some are still doing it!
I still have my childhood stamp collection.
Omg. My boy friends and their damn cars!!!! I collected trucks to move my dolls around. 😂
I just realized Tolkuchki is from the word tolk and not from the word push. Mind-Blown 😂
Thank you for all your stories, and for teaching about the Soviet Union. I do have one question though, were there any stickers in the Soviet Union?
No, we didn't. Only people who visited foreign countries had them.
Im from former Yugoslavia and we basically collected the same things as people did in The Soviet union. But if you were 13-14 and older you probably had a Tomos moped. So many of us who were interested in motorcycles collected motorcycle parts like: carburetors, cogs, cylinders and pistons. I personally have over 100 pistons in my garage😂. And obviously many of us collected motorcycle 1:43 scale models.
I like this because it is wholesome and a fine hobby.
Baseball cards were big in the US, did the Soviet Union ever sell collector cards with photos of sports figures?
@@alexcarter8807 Jesus lad, can you fucking tip that fedora any harder? And before you say it, I have a Masters in Engineering.
@@TakeMeOffYourMailingList Ignore him, he does not have a degree in everything, like I do, im actually part of the 0,0001% highest IQ people in Germany, so youll have to believe me
@@chaowingchinghongfingshong3109 m'fräulein
@@alexcarter8807 it's the football player's fault you are a massive failure, not yours
Could you not have applied for a scholarship yourself?
I still collect stamps and badges and old money. I even have an old die-cast car from the '80s... It's an old zastava 101. It's a cool thing. Also I actually found two postcards from Soviet Union and well they are very interesting.
Bruh, the calendars brought back memories I didn’t even know were there! Also as a kid I didn’t smoke but we ripped the top of cigarette boxes and folded them in a way that they’re flat. I had so many different ones!
Also the gum...legendary.
Those Air Force stamps... Now I want to collect
Nice I remember penny candy here in the states. We had Chinese fortune gum . The flavor didn't last long but we loved it. And it had a fortune inside like a fortune cookie. That was in the 80s.
Rekord (briefly seen at 21:29 on the top center) was Czechoslovak chewing gum and each one inclued small piece of waxed paper with Guiness record shown on it, usually some highest, tallest or so made-by-man things which you could also collect. I remember getting that one a lot as kid.
There were some 40 pieces of records total and some kids were trying to get them all real hard as certain ones were almost impossible to obtain (I think there was one of which only like 100 or so pieces in total were made at all and whoever had it was Rekord king. It was same prestige as if having some thousand dollar MTG card.)
We had Pepsi and Coke in Glass Bottles here too until the 1980s
So Cool
I started up written correspondences with people in the USSR back in the 80's and 90's, sending US toys, records and various odds and ends as gifts to people there who were helping me with research into Russian film makers, special effects people, writers etc. Because of these communications I received in return, the kinds of stamps, calendars and medals you talk about in this video. Some of the stamps in particular are quite elaborate and very artistically attractive. So...I wound up with a lot of these collectables from earlier decades in the USSR.
(I'd really like to find a matchbox of the 1924 Russian science fiction film, AELITA, which was distributed at the time!--that'd be cool. I wonder how many other Soviet era films turned up on matchbox covers and other objects?)
Were there no comic books or newspaper comic strips in the USSR? Seems like those would have made for good collectables.
Thanks for the video.
Thanks for the video! It was very interesting! I have a few Soviet badges and somewhere I have a 1962 women's volley ball championship stamp.
That volley ball stamp is cool. You know the women on that team got special benefits that made their lives a bit easier.
My best friend in college had defected and shortly after the collapse her mother came to visit the US. Her mother gave me an Olympic coin from 1984, the year the USSR didn't compete. It's not really worth anything but I think it's pretty cool.
I am guessing they spent the money to mint those coins so they decided to go ahead and put them in circulation even with the boycott. One found it's way into my humble collection and I think it's pretty cool. It's probably my least valuable coin as far as $$ but I gotta say, it's my favorite coin.
19:20 Can someone tell me what band/album is this LP?
Scottish fairtale for the kids not a rock band
@@UshankaShow I somehow had a feeling that it wasn't a rock band but a soviet audiobook of a Scottish fairytale, honestly wasn't on my list.
Thanks.
No problem!
22:40 Does anyone know where to find this photo and what is the story behind it?
oadam.livejournal.com/434655.html
It's the Soviet kindergarten somewhere in Siberia. Curing vitamin D deficiency. A soviet tanning bed for the kids
The soviet diecast model cars looked great!
When I was a kid in the US, we had all sorts of things that we prized and traded with each other. Besides stamps or coin collecting which were popular, we also collected baseball cards, airplane cards, 3 different monster cards series, outer space cards, Davy Crockett cards and many others as well.
I once had a matchbook collection which I added to as time went on and its value increased exponentially as the printed addresses for stores or restaurants that were depicted, closed down or went out of business, but it seems that I lost sight of it when I moved house since years ago.
Something to do!
Now I understand why whenever i went to Czechoslovakia in the 60s, my cousin's always went crazy over American chewing gum espically Bazooka.
People took X-ray film from medical waste , cut it into circles etch it over vinyls , and then burn a hole in the center to make copies.
That is absolutely insane that people in the Soviet Union collected basically what people here in the United States at the same time, it makes you wonder what hardwiring in the brain says I need this stamp and all of these stamps. Also as a side note you'll have to forgive us Americans for thinking something 30 years old is an antique our country's only been around for a few hundred.
Soviet people seem to like to collect small and cute things. Interestingly, they have the same hobbies as me, born in a western country in the 2000's!
Also, since I was a child, I have enjoyed collecting unique old objects.
When I visited my grandmother's house, I was really happy to spend time exploring her dusty old storage room and got a lot of things from her.
My dad said I collect useless stuff, but I feel like I own a precious piece of history that was manufactured before I was born.
my mother also had a huge collection of stamps
People here in the US also collected match boxes, but long long ago, mostly before my time. I can remember seeing some as a child, but they were old even then. When I was very young they were mostly replaced by the horrible book matches you mention.
It was sort of the opposite in North America, the boxes of matches didn't normally have fancy labels but the books of matches did. Collecting matchbooks is an inexpensive hobby, many restaurants,bars, nightclubs, hotels, motels, and other businesses had them printed up with their name, location, address, phone number, etc. printed on them along with a logo of some kind. Postcards is another good one along the same lines, a lot of the same sorts of businesses that had matchbooks printed up for advertising also gave away postcards.
And corresponding ashtrays!
Túto stránku budem odporúčať!!!!
I’m addicted to your channel
The "Kalev" company is Estonian ;) and it's still open and producing lot's of good stuff I might say :D
Glad to hear that. Probably Nestle bought them?
No, still almost independent... AS Kalev (2006-2012 Kalev Chocolate Factory AS) is an Estonian confectionery company. The company can trace its origins back two hundred years, the business that preceded the Maiasmokk cafe was founded in 1806, and is now owned by Kalev. The Kalev company is now a part of the industrial conglomerate Orkla Group. Since 2003, it has been based in Põrguvälja near Jüri, Rae Parish, Harju County.
"In soviet Russia is easier to get little car than real car."
I'm a collector of soviet era pins and badges.
As well as other soviet things.
17:06 what car is this based of here
Did anyone in your Village have an Amateur Radio for a hobby? I see next to nothing on that subject on UA-cam: Amateur Radio in the USSR.
Also: Chess. I think even with all of the computer games and simulations available today, there is no finer game of strategy that challenges the skill of intellect than Chess, ever. Ever!
All the Best!
Sincerely,
William Pietschman (W8LV)
I think amateur radio in SU was as hard to get as a gun. Many thing we take for granted here in US where illegal or highly restricted in SU for the ordinary citizen.
@@kpkndusa It was difficult but not impossible especially if you were a communist party member! Yes there were many hams and ham radio clubs in the USSR!
Yes Ham Radio was popular there as a hobby and today still is (im a ham myself)but you were required to be a communist party member and join a radio club and were subject to a lot of scrutiny . for one to get on the air one had to build their own radios ,antennas, amps etc or use modified military surplus gear if available. This could be difficult if you lived in a tiny apartment shared with another family, so most Soviet hams had to operate from club stations (ie school college or university).There was even a magazine called RADIO published monthly .Also Soviet hams during the early years(ie during Stalin’s time) could only make contacts with other communist bloc countries until the ban was lifted around 1957 with Sputnik. Also they were forbidden to give out their exact address over the air they had to exchange QSL cards via post office box 88 Moscow for further scrutiny. Conversation was often limited to the exchange of their call sign ,name ,signal strength report rarely much else mostly a hi and bye conversation usually in Morse code only. Even today many ex USSR hams are still active on the air!
Regarding computers the soviets only began to manufacture micro computers mainly for schools around the mid to late 80s . But the electronic components though built domestically were usually a poorer copy of a western designed chip or circuit and were nearly impossible for a private citizen to get or afford, so a hobby black market arose of trying to homebrew computer circuit boards and chips for use by hobbyists also one couldn’t just go out and buy any programs they were usually compiled by do it yourself programmers or smuggled in from abroad .Remember the game Tetris?
.It was actually designed by a Soviet computer programmer in his home!
i have a lot of those badges..id love to show them to you...wow thanks for that
sergeisputnikoff@gmail.com
My grandmother and aunt collected matchbooks. Boxes of wooden matches were meh. They wanted matchbooks more than anything else and they had ginormous jars stuffed with matchbooks from hotels and bars all over the country and the world. It always blew me away how intricate the art was on each one. Could spend hours just looking at each individual book of matches.
The East German company PIKO made model trains. Were model trains popular in the USSR?
Hello! People in SU built and collected scale models as well? Such as trains, aircraft, tanks.
Yep
Lord Acton “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (1887)
I collect Russian stamps, mostly from RFSFR and civil war armies and so on. I also have Russian money and znatki.
Funny, I grow up in 80s and 90s (West)-Germany and I collected police and fire brigade badges and patches. My Grandpa was a state attorney so he was kind of at the source and gifted me a great number of those.
In the US because we make so much stuff an antique is >50 years and vintage is >25 years. Anything more is a historical item I believe. As less of a material culture at the time antiques at 100 yrs would make sense.
I collected match boxes, and not the small cars but actual boxes of matches. Thanks for mentioning that :)
In Mexico "commemorative" stamps weren't put for postage. There were official stamps for postage which were pretty much the same.
Special topic stamps would get a special cancellation and then they were made available to collectors, but because it had been cancelled officially they could not be used for postage, even though unlike the USSR they were sold unstamped.
It is well known that Soviet hobbies were the very best hobbies in the world, and Soviet collectors were superior to all other collectors!!!
I don't know why I ended up here but small culture info never hurts ;)
My parents grew up in communist czechoslovkakia, they both collected stamps, my grandad collected badges for decades
Sergeontheloo,
You talk about the value of the Soviet car models being quote valuable today.
I was born in Australia. I received a Russian watch with a buzzer alarm. This was the age where digital watches in the West were all the rage. After school we went to a watch repairer.
The so called cool kids with their Star Wars digital watches were shocked. The watch repairer valued the plastic digital Star Wars watches at $15 dollars.
My Russian made watch was valued back in 1980 at $100. Seiko and Omega watches cost between $60 to $80.
Long story short. In late 1981 I left it at a watch repair shop. The owner said that the watch was broken and could not be repaired. However, he gave me $40 which is strange.
I was really shy and didn't say anything. A friend of mine told a teacher. The teacher told me that the watch repairer robbed me. He knew Russian watches were highly valued and the fact he gave me $40 meant the watch was worth $300 to 400 in 1981. This was the cost of some designer watches in the West.
Aha! the watch repair man was operating on the capitalist prime directive. How can I make myself more powerful with money? By cheating other people out of their resources! Its like the man in America who raised the cost of insulin. He explained it is his "moral obligation" to make a profit however it can be made. Do some poor people die because they can't afford the price? He doesn't care.
@@oliversmith9200 smh the glories of "competition"
in the US around this time, small electronics and homemade hobby computers were gaining popularity. did people in the Soviet Union work with or create electronics as a hobby? or was this discouraged by the government?
Don't know how about in USSR, here in Czechoslovakia there were Hi-Fi clubs focused on consumer electronics, radio amateurs running private radio stations etc. There was also organization for civil cooperation with military which run RC modelars, electronis courses etc. The everlasting problem was accessibility of parts and high prices. Also east block products were lower quality and import was obstructed (by embargo from West and lack of foreign exchange)
It was actually encouraged by the government, there was many tech clubs for young people
Yes Electronics and computers were popular but most Soviet electronics particularly computers were difficult to buy . Most of the hardware and computer chips were poorer copies of western hardware and software. so many would be people had a magazine called RADIO that show cased DIY amature "Ham" Radio and Computer kits. Also regarding the software one couldnt just go out and buy it in a govt store so an underground black market of trying to smuggle in programs or reverse engineer them often took place Remember the game Tetris?..it was created by a Soviet amatuer programmer in his home back in 1984!
i have seen a giant book from my great grandfather with coins the size of your hand,unfortunately it was lost somewhere or somebody sold it.And another relative i remember as a kid had a giant collection of metal toy car models....good stuff
As a kid I'd always got and collected those diecast vehicles by HotWheels,Matchbox,Siku,etc. As well as coins and paper money from around the world but mostly coins..BUT my most unusual and costly hobby was acquiring law enforcement memorbilia, It all started when a teacher brought in a patch from her husband who was a trooper in Minnesota, I'd still have this if I hadn't wore it every school day pined to my TShirts. This grew into a hobby of collecting badges eventually as well as patches, I imagine this would have been impossible in U.S.S.R., not just the expense but a Militioner (police official) giving you his badges and patches might be frowned upon and also get the officer into trouble.
One of the most awesome Soviet/ Russian sport/ hobby is motorcycle ice racing. The Russians and the former Soviet countries are the best in the world. Grew up in Wisconsin racing motorcycles on ice in the mid 70s.
@ 22:40 🤨 are they collecting UV light?
Yes. Kindergartens in the Far East and Siberia practiced that due to lack of sunlight
USHANKA SHOW
Damn. I would never survive in such environments. I go crazy durning the winter when we lose just a few hours of daylight
I have some toy tractors from East Germany. My grandparents got them just before the Wall came down. I played with them all the time as a kid without realizing their significance, lol
I like colecting Soviet NBC and Army equipment
I collect rocks, silver, musical instruments, and guns to name a few. The first one is what I built my business on being a lapidary artist. The last one is why I'm glad to be American, although my favorite rifle was made in the Soviet Union.😁The top left commemorative Ruble coin in that picture is the one I told you that I made a ring from. The 20 year victory over fascist Germany.
Under what heading can I locate how the game with bubble gum wrappers was played?
I had a toy Moskvich car made in USSR when I was a kid. Now LukOil gas stations offer newly made models of old Soviet cars - I have a Volga 21, a GAZ Pobeda, an Emka (GAZ m-1) , Moskvich 400, UAZ Jeep and van, RAF 2203...
my parents were born in the USSR in 1970 too, looking at this I kind of wanna go back and experience the life that they had, seems different but also very fun
You can purchase USPS "reply cards" (post cards) and envelopes with printed postage, no need for affixing stamp. I recall reading the Soviet Union postal system had a similar type of its law enforcement investigators, due to the fact the post office managed the phone lines and other communications systems. Unlike their U.S. counterparts who aren't especially well known, I recall reading that the Soviet postal investigators were amongst the most feared law enforcement/gov agencies.
Greetings Comrade! You mentioned you like stamps with animals, while there were also those documenting achievements in Space exploration; I was wondering if there was a set celebrating the first dogs in space?
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