Post-Soviet Azerbaijan. What can one say? For many people this is just one of those republics. Not Russia or something that ignorant Westerners think is "kind of Russian" like Ukraine or Belarus. Definitely not a Baltic State! Not Georgia (as if anyone cares. Is anyone collecting Georgia? Hello? Is this microphone working?) and very, VERY not Armenia. Armenia has an international community of emigres collecting it like crazy and any mention of Azerbaijan tends to produce deep frowns. And when an Armenian frowns, it's a serious frown. Not a Central Asian republic (although I've heard one US journalist calling it Azerbaistan. And yes, this man can vote!).
I have a big soft spot for Azerbaijan. I blame Thomas Goltz, whose utterly non-objective book "Azerbaijan diary" is such a great read about the 1991-1993 period.
Philatelically, Azerbaijan has been pretty much a normal post-Soviet republic. High inflation, check. Big stocks of USSR stationery, check. Overprints, check. Cult of personality, big check. Azerbaijan? Might as well call it Alievistan! Non-philatelic covers are difficult to get hold of outside of a few archives addressed to Kiev and Minsk. So, fun for any collector, and cheap too.
However. Azerbaijan? We need to have a little chat. It's about those imperforate stamps. At first a few stray sets magically appeared without perforation, and we have that bloody French printer to thank for that (and Trevor Pateman to figure out what was happening and get the information). Then things got very quiet for awhile. Three sets from 1994 (birds of prey, big cats and football) started turning up imperforate on eBay/Delcampe. And then...it seems just about every single issue now also "appears" imperforate. You can get them without too much trouble in Moscow, I believe. They seem to receive very little distribution (and indeed interest) outside of the former USSR.
What's going on, Azerbaijan? Why!? You were doing so well!
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