An Old Soviet Passport

[Alexandra]

I came across an article about old passports and found this Soviet Passport interesting. I love the cursive as well of the ink. Okay, I admit that I like any old paper with writing on it but this ink reminds me of Noodler's Violet Vote. I would very much like it if Nathan would/could once again produce VV. It was the perfect ink. If anyone knows of a good substitute, say some thing; I'm listening.

 

http://assets.atlasobscura.com/article_images/39990/image.jpg

[OCArt]

As a side note my Russian friends tell me that purple ink was reserved for official use as you see in this passport.

[katerchen]

North African Violets is a bit more on the sapphire side(*) ... but didn't he model that also after some document ink of the period?

 

-k

 

(*) Depending on what batch you get, there is some ... randomness to that ink.

[Randal6393]

Thanks for showing us a bit of history that is so enjoyable. Love the whole character of the passport. Why can't we get passport photoes that are so well done and of such high quality?

 

Enjoy,

[Joane]

Agreed, the photo is very well and professionally done and the handwriting is lovely. Not sure of which ink of today is like it. On my screen it looks somewhat like Pelikan Violet but there must be more exact matches out there with which I am not familiar.

 

A couple of other things about the passport strike me as interesting. It is filled in in Russian and French. I wasn't aware they used French as an official language, although its use as a diplomatic language is well known. The date of birth is surprisingly vague, 1898 only, as is the height, "low." (???) Then there is the nose description: "ordinary." (?!!)

[antichresis]

My bottle of Noodler's La Couleur Royale is very very very close, even identical, to the colour I am seeing on my screen. I am unsure of the qualities/performance (the passport seems to indicate so semblance of water-resistance), but the colour is spot-on.

 

One should be reminded, though, that LCR has "two formulations". One is said to be blue-purple, the other is a violet-blue. I am talking of the violet-blue.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

I came across an article about old passports and found this Soviet Passport interesting. I love the cursive as well of the ink. Okay, I admit that I like any old paper with writing on it but this ink reminds me of Noodler's Violet Vote. I would very much like it if Nathan would/could once again produce VV. It was the perfect ink. If anyone knows of a good substitute, say some thing; I'm listening.

 

http://assets.atlasobscura.com/article_images/39990/image.jpg

 

Wow! That's an interesting looking document. Was it a passport for going places outside the USSR or was that an internal passport?

 

You say that you saw it in an article, so I guess you can't say what the paper is like? It looks like this document was folded in four. I don't see any cover for it or anything. Just a pure paper passport doesn't seem like it'd last long, unless the paper was somehow pretty strong. If it's an internal passport then it'd be more likely to not have a cover, but to be one of those things I used to see in the movies where some guy says, "Show me your papers!"

 

... but didn't he model that also after some document ink of the period?

 

What got called Violet Vote was originally sold as Iraqi Indigo . I recall Nathan saying that he had gotten ahold of some paper with the ink that was used in the first Iraqi election after the US invasion. Iraqis who had voted had to stick their finger in a bowl of a certain color of ink so that they couldn't easily vote more than once, the poll monitors would see that ink on their fingers. He said that the Iraqi Indigo was an exact copy of that ink's color.

 

Apparently Nathan got all excited about this and got a sample and reproduced an ink that he said looked just like it. So while it wasn't used on a document, it was related to voting in Iraq.

[arrScott]

A couple of other things about the passport strike me as interesting. It is filled in in Russian and French. I wasn't aware they used French as an official language, although its use as a diplomatic language is well known. The date of birth is surprisingly vague, 1898 only, as is the height, "low." (???) Then there is the nose description: "ordinary." (?!!)

 

French has long been one of three globally accepted languages for passports and other documents meant to pass across borders: English, French, and Spanish. And French has also been a traditional part of Russian education, since at least the 1700s, so it makes sense that a Soviet passport would use French, as opposed to English or Spanish, alongside Russian. Current American passports include both English and French.

 

My family has a passport from my great-great grandfather, who went to what was then Persia on a missionary trip in the late 1800s. His passport includes similarly vague and/or anachronistic descriptions, such as listing his forehead as "high" and his nose as "Roman".

[Satchmo]

Why can't we get passport photoes that are so well done and of such high quality?

 

Having renewed my passport just recently, that was my first thought too. My photo looks like I've spent the last 3 days being waterboarded into a confession.

[torstar]

Why can't we?

 

Because people insist on the highest level of digital capacity, which without true professional makeup on is a total disaster...

Edited February 28, 2017 by torstar

[Joane]

French has long been one of three globally accepted languages for passports and other documents meant to pass across borders: English, French, and Spanish. And French has also been a traditional part of Russian education, since at least the 1700s, so it makes sense that a Soviet passport would use French, as opposed to English or Spanish, alongside Russian. Current American passports include both English and French.

 

My family has a passport from my great-great grandfather, who went to what was then Persia on a missionary trip in the late 1800s. His passport includes similarly vague and/or anachronistic descriptions, such as listing his forehead as "high" and his nose as "Roman".

 

Thanks for the added info. With descriptions like these it would be easy (NOT!) to pick out the person in a crowd!

 

A couple of my early passports were issued in the days when you still went to a professional photographer to get the photos done and they were really equal to portraits of the finest order. Same with a lot of old family wedding photos I have seen. Even people who were not particularly outstanding were brought out to look beautiful by skill and lighting and probably the camera technology of the day.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Joane

[Randal6393]

Well, my French has practically rusted away. Seems to be a passport that allows some travel beyond the areas of Bulgaria and Romania. Other than that, looks like an internal set of papers.

 

Enjoy,

[Alexandra]

You can see the article here: http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/defunct-country-passports

You'll find other fascinating stuff from countries that no longer exist such as Fiume and the German Empire.

[Alexandra]

North African Violets is a bit more on the sapphire side(*) ... but didn't he model that also after some document ink of the period?

 

-k

 

(*) Depending on what batch you get, there is some ... randomness to that ink.

According to the Noodler's site the V-Mail series was reverse engineered from WWI period inks. As NAV is partially waterproof it may be the closest I'm going to come to VV. And then of course there's the added benefit of historical interest.

[Alexandra]

My bottle of Noodler's La Couleur Royale is very very very close, even identical, to the colour I am seeing on my screen. I am unsure of the qualities/performance (the passport seems to indicate so semblance of water-resistance), but the colour is spot-on.

 

One should be reminded, though, that LCR has "two formulations". One is said to be blue-purple, the other is a violet-blue. I am talking of the violet-blue.

LCR is promising whichever batch I should happen to get though I do think I would prefer the blue-purple.

[Joe in Seattle]

Waterman Purple was once the ink of French schoolchildren, I believe. It looks quite similar.

[Ereshkigal]

 

Wow! That's an interesting looking document. Was it a passport for going places outside the USSR or was that an internal passport?

 

 

outside.

[Noihvo]

[torstar]

Why can't we?

 

Because people insist on the highest level of digital capacity, which without true professional makeup on is a total disaster...

 

this is what happens when you have HD capacity and no prep for it, not meant to be a dig at her, but it's what happens, that's why older pics ALWAYS look better...

 

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5zxvh9WYAAT_jl.jpg

 

when prepped and made up with kind lighting, the effect is a 180.

[katerchen]

Also ... I hope she used that passport to get the hell out and as far away as possible, because she doesn't exactly look like the Bolshevik type.

 

-k