How do you find the year of a Soviet postcard

The printing year is usually part of the imprint data on the back, next to the print run and the printing order number. Without it, the date is narrowed down by the postmark, the affixed stamp and the price in kopeks, which changed with official price lists.

Which Soviet postcards are scarce

Small print runs, the early period before 1940, regional publishers and cards that travelled through the post with a clear postmark. Mass greeting cards of the 1970s and 1980s survive in enormous numbers.

What do the numbers on the back mean

They are imprint data: print run, printing order number, publisher reference and price. They date the card and separate a reprint of the same artwork from the first edition.

Soviet postcards: how to date one from the back

Q: How many postcards are in the archive

The open archive holds 216 Soviet postcards from 1926 to 1991, with a year recorded for 74 of them. The 1980s are the best represented decade.

Postcards · 3 September 2026

Everything that matters is printed on the back, not on the picture. The imprint data – print run, order number, publisher and price – almost always includes the year of printing. Without it, the date is reconstructed from the postmark, the affixed stamp and the layout of the address side.

Reverse of a Soviet postcard from 1955 — The back of a 1955 postcard: postmark, address side and imprint data. Image source

Five dating clues

Imprint data. The small print at the bottom of the back: publisher, print run, order number, year. The most direct answer – start here.
Publisher. Names and their spelling changed over time, so even without a year the publisher narrows the period to a decade.
Price. The price in kopeks was printed on the card and moved with official price lists – another anchor.
Postmark. If the card travelled, the postmark gives an exact posting date: printing cannot be later than that.
Stamp. An affixed stamp is datable from the catalogue, and its issue sets a lower bound.

Keep two dates apart: the year of printing and the year of posting. A card could sit in a kiosk or a drawer for years, so the postmark only proves it already existed by then.

Greeting cards

Greeting series survive best: New Year, 8 March, 1 May, Victory Day, birthdays. They were printed for every holiday in enormous quantities, which is why a mass greeting card of the 1970s or 1980s is the most common find in a family box. Scarcity sits with early issues, regional publishers and small print runs.

What the archive holds

The open collectioner.art archive holds 216 Soviet postcards from 1926 to 1991, with a year recorded for 74. By decade: 9 from the 1920s, 8 from the 1930s, 12 from the 1940s, 3 from the 1950s, 6 from the 1960s, 8 from the 1970s, 21 from the 1980s and 7 from the 1990s.

Open it: Soviet postcards. Nearby: badges, coins and banknotes, matchbox labels.

Storage

PVC-free sleeve pages, stored upright and without pressure from above.
Away from sunlight: colour printing fades faster than people expect.
Do not separate a posted card from its address side – the postmark is part of the object.
Never write on the back in pencil; the impression stays for good.

Quick answers

How do you find the year?

From the imprint data on the back, or failing that from the postmark, stamp and price.

Which postcards are scarce?

Early issues, regional publishers, small print runs and posted cards with clear postmarks.

What do the numbers mean?

Print run, printing order number, publisher reference and price.

How many postcards are in the archive?

216 cards from 1926 to 1991, 74 of them dated.