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.
From 14 to 16 September at the Exhibition Grounds in Prague will be the tenth anniversary of the international fair Collector (Sberatel). The fair has already established itself as one of the important collector events in Europe, and it has its regular place on the calendars of international philatelic and numismatic organizations.
This year, more than 220 exhibitors from 35 countries will present themselves at the fair Collector, which is dedicated mainly to philately, old postcards and numismatics as well as to minerals, precious stones, phonecards and other collectors’ items. The event is held under the auspices of Czech Post, the Union of Czech Philatelists and the Czech Numismatic Society.
Philately is most heavily represented at the fair. Although some people say the collecting of stamps and postal stationery is old fashioned, surveys conducted at the fair last year and three years ago have shown that these days philately still has not lost its attractiveness for young people. Additionally, every event similar to the fair Collector creates a wave of interest in collecting.
Besides all of the important Czech dealers and collectors in the field of philately, the fair also introduces companies from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Argentina, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Besides Czech Post, the postal administrations from Australia, Byelorussia, Ireland, Cyprus, Germany, North Korea, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland and the United Nations will also be attending the fair. So-called “postage stamp countries” ranging from the islands of Fiji to Vanuatu will be represented as well. Postal administrations have prepared cancellation stamps and postal stationery for the fair, and on Sunday at the Czech Post exhibit it will be possible to have Czech Post mail marked with the UN cancellation stamp. Sunday at the fair will also be declared United Nations Day. Moreover, philatelists and laypersons will surely be enthusiastic about the exhibit borrowed from the British Postal Museum and Archive in London.
This year’s jubilee fair will be a thorough preparation for 2008, when the fair will be held jointly with the World Stamp Exhibition PRAGA.
As with postage stamps that can be collected purely as a hobby or as a good investment, the field of numismatics likewise offers a whole spectrum ranging from coins of ancient Greece to modern pure gold coins. The collecting of coins and bank notes has been growing rapidly for several years. The main cause for this has been the gradual introduction of the Euro in EU countries. Collectors not only add new annual issues of coins from the original EU countries, but also await eagerly and with great interest the new coins, as was the case this year with Slovenia and as will again be the case in 2009 with Slovakia, then with the Czech Republic in 2012. Mints also issue gold investment coins that definitely will not lose value over time. For this reason, mint exhibits have traditionally been successful at the fair Collector, whether the Czech Mint, the Kremnica Mint of Slovakia or mints from Austria, Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway or other countries are involved. For the jubilee fair, the Czech Numismatic Society has prepared an exhibition of Czech coins from the Middle Ages to the present.
Also on the rise is collecting of old postcards, especially from before 1945. Their prices have multiplied several times over in recent years, and making a collection of postcards of your home town or a collection of greeting cards or Christmas cards is now quite difficult. This involves some nostalgia about past times, but also curiosity about what someone’s street looked like a hundred years ago. The color lithography from the end 1800s and early 1900s on the postcards is also often very artistic. In any case, collecting both old and new postcards is a great pleasure, just like other collectors’ fields. More than 40 dealers will be presenting post cards at the fair Collector.
In recent years, there has been a great increase to the number of exhibitors of minerals and precious stones. Naturally this field also has collectors, but the magic of the fair Collector is that it is also intended for the general public. Having an amethyst geode from Brazil or calcite or a desert rose from China for your home is certain to bring compliments from visitors. These wonders of nature will be represented at the fair by samples discovered at perhaps every well-known site on earth. There will also be necklaces, bracelets, pendants, so-called healing stones and many other cut and polished minerals and precious stones. Dealers, which will be bringing them to the fair, will be not only from the Czech Republic, but also from China, India, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. An interesting addition for this field will be an exhibit titled Giants presenting new finds of minerals from central China weighing up to 70 kg.
Traditionally, phonecards have been included at the fair. Today people around the world are collecting not only classic chip cards for payphones, but also pre-paid cards, mobile phone refill cards and other types of cards in general (bank cards, hotel cards, hockey cards etc.). Card issuers accommodate collectors by carefully choosing interesting subjects. At the fair Collector, dealers from China, England, France, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, Russia and elsewhere will offer cards. People still collect cards, and the collections look beautiful in the folders. As the collectors say, cards aren’t as light as stamps, so they won’t fly away in the breeze, nor are they as heavy as minerals, so you won’t break your toes if you drop them. Sheets for business cards can be used to store them.
As each year, the Czech Curiosity Collectors’ Club has represented miscellaneous collecting at the fair. People also take pleasure in collecting lids from coffee cream, napkins, pocket planners, cheese or beer labels, antique cars, fuses, boilers and so forth. These collectors often preserve a piece of the past for future generations. Besides, it is also true that whatever people collect, if collectors really go in depth, they become experts on a particular field and a particular historical period. After all, all of the excellent private museums today in the Czech Republic are based on collections that the owners want to show to the general public.
For all collecting fields, official experts will be available to visitors free of charge for consulting and expert opinions (at stands with the word “Poradenství” – consulting – written in yellow).
Opening hours: Friday & Saturday 10 – 18 hrs, Sunday 10 – 16 hrs. Entrance tickets for 60 CZK (2 Euro). Traditionally, women and young people up to age 18 have been admitted to the fair Collector free of charge.
More information you will find when placing your mouse on the left on “Collector trade fair” and click on “News bulletin”.
