The largest collector Home fair in Central
and Eastern Europe
September 5 to 6, 2025, Fairground PVA EXPO PRAHA
Opening hours: Fri 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. | Sat 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
For specialist buyers already on Thursday 4th from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on Friday 5th from 9 a.m.
The “Sberatel / Collector” fair will take place in Prague on September 11 and 12, 2020, with face masks, but otherwise without any other restrictions. And, first and foremost, with exhibitors from all over Europe and a number of attractive novelties for collectors. Jindřich Jirásek, the fair´s director, describes how this extraordinary largest meeting of collectors of coins, banknotes, medals, post stamps, postcards and other collector´s items in Central and Eastern Europe will look like this year.
Will the “Sberatel / Collector” fair take place this year?
Of course. Even stricter measures taken by the government, which will take effect as of September 1 and introduce, inter alia, mandatory face masks inside buildings, which means they will also apply to our event, do not restrict fairs. We have been actively promoting the “Sberatel / Collector” fair both at home and abroad; billboards and posters have been in place since the beginning of this month, we will have radio ads aired before the event starts, and massive campaigns on the internet have been prepared and will be implemented.
How will the government´s measures be reflected in arrangements of events taking place inside buildings?
For both days, the “Sberatel / Collector” fair will implement stringent hygienic measures to protect its visitors and exhibitors to the maximum possible extent. The exhibition hall will be divided into five sectors and there will never be more than 500 people in any of them at any moment. Side doors of the hall will be used to pass from one sector to another. A disinfectant dispenser will be available at each entrance. Employees of the exhibition center will also be regularly disinfecting toilets and all other common areas. If anyone forgets a face mask, or his or her face mask is damaged, there will be face masks for sale in the information kiosk in the lounge or in the ticket office.
Will the fair be divided like in previous years?
Hall 1, which will host the “Sberatel / Collector” fair, is the largest hall on the exhibition grounds, thanks to which we can make aisles between desks and stands as wide as possible, so that there will be no crowding of visitors. This will improve not only hygienic safety, but also comfort of buyers. An exhibitor that has used the same place in the hall for years may be moved a few meters away. The hall will be continuously ventilated and its height and length ensure a good air circulation throughout the event. In this respect, visiting the “Sberatel / Collector” fair will be safer than going to a large shopping mall or a hobby market, where thousands of people crowd in a limited enclosed space every day.
Are there any pandemic-related restrictions applying to visitors and exhibitors from abroad?
A list of countries with a low risk of infection (the so-called “Green List”) is defined by a decree of the Ministry of Public Health and pegged on the ministry´s website. At the moment, citizens of all EU member states, plus the United Kingdom, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Andorra, San Marino and Vatican can travel to the Czech Republic without any restrictions. The only European country which the free travel to the Czech Republic does not apply to is Sweden.
The “Sberatel / Collector” fair will be the first major collectors´ event in Europe after more than half a year …
And it seems it will continue to be like this for the rest of the year. The last major philatelic event was the “Philatelia” fair in Munich (replacing the traditional Brifefmarkenmesse), which was to take place in parallel with the “Numismata” fair. At that time, the “Philatelia” fair was closed after one day, and the “Numismata” fair did not even open its gates. One after another, the British London 2020 event, traditional fair in Essen, Ostropa in Germany were called off, and the latest information that has arrived is that the largest German fair in Sindelfingen, which traditionally takes place in the end of October, has also be cancelled. There will be no “Numismata” fairs in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main, the Postex event in the Netherlands has been cancelled. So, without any exaggeration, Prague will be a real center of collectors´ world in September.
-red-, photo: archives
