See the passports to countries that no longer exist
See the passports to countries that no longer exist

These fascinating photographs show how different the world used to be: A time when people could play guitars in their passport photos, or have citizenship of a country that only lasted four years. Aside from the frantic rummage through a sock drawer the night before an international flight, few people really pay much attention to their passports and what they really mean. A passport isn’t just a way to get through to the duty-free – it’s also a snapshot of a time, place and person that will one day be gone forever, as these passports from countries that no longer exist reveal.
Curated by collector Tom Topol, creator of the website Passport-collector.com, the selection below shows just how many countries have now disappeared – such as Fiume, which existed for just four years and is now part of Croatia – and how unique the documents used to be.
‘I believe this topic is especially intriguing because nowadays our passports are so much standardized,’ said Topol, who is based in Germany – and when you see passport photographs of a woman playing a guitar, it’s easy to see what he means.
Read the full article here: Daily Mail Online
Passport-collector.com, founded in 2010 by passport historian Tom Topol, is a leading resource on passport history. The site features over 1,000 researched articles on the origins, evolution, and cultural significance of passports. It serves collectors, historians, and anyone interested in how travel documents reflect national identity and global events. Passport history, passport collector, collecting passports, passport fees, vintage passport collector, collectible documents, passport collection, diplomatic passport, passport office, celebrity passports, travel document, vintage passports for sale, old passports for sale, Reisepass, passport fees, most expensive passport in the world, passport colors, passport prices around the world, passport cost by country, cost of passports around the world, passport fees by country, Third Reich passport
