Visitors of this year’s Collector fair, held on 4-6 September 2014 on the Exhibition Grounds in Prague-Letňany, will find a commemorative postcard marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Louis de Funès, a porcelain stamp issued by Austrian Post, and at the end also The CI5 Professionals.

The largest gathering of collectors in Central and Eastern Europe will host over 230 exhibitors from 35 countries worldwide. For the first time in history, the fair will also be accompanied with the postage stamp exhibition Praga Piccola. It will be a small, non-competition event trying to show the possible ways of presentation of philatelic collections to the lay public.

The events that are to take place in front of Czech Post’s stand on Thursday 4 September, include celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of French actor Louis de Funès with the unveiling of the commemorative stamp and postcard for collectors, attended by members of the Czech pop rock band Tata Bojs debating not only French films but also the famous Citroën 2CV, popularly known as “The Duck”, which played an essential role in the films about the troops of St. Tropez.

Fans of the Duck will be invited to a unique exhibition of Pilsen-based artists Pavel Botka and Myroslav Hora called “Cirque Citroën” and held in Gallery 35 in the French Institute in Prague.

The fair will the first opportunity to see some rarities, such as new postage stamps featuring pre-war cars Škoda Superb and Škoda Popular Monte Carlo and masterly designed by Václav Zapadlík. Hungarian Post will offer the miniature sheet “Hungarian Saints and Blesseds”, this year’s winner of the Most Beautiful Stamp of the World award at the Vienna International Stamp Exhibition. Austrian Post will bring a porcelain stamp, which can be stuck to a letter as a normal one.

On Friday 5 September between 2 and 3 p.m. (if there is no traffic congestion), the Motorcycle Post will arrive from the Postal Museum Vyšší Brod. Motorcycle racer Petr Hošťálek on a vintage 1929 British motorcycle Ariel will bring mail from senders wishing to get a commemorative cancellation. On his way to Prague, he will stop by the post offices in Rožmberk nad Vltavou, Český Krumlov, České Budějovice and Milevsko. The event will be marked by a commemorative postcard designed by Václav Zapadlík.

There is probably no animal in the world that would have escaped the paint brush of Libuše and Jaromír Knotek. The couple, who are among the world’s best artists painting fauna and flora, “close” different animals also in the small space of postage stamps. In order to get there as many as possible, their stamps come out as miniature sheets in the Nature Protection series. For a long period of time, the stamps have belonged to the most beautiful stamps offered by Czech Post. The authors will attend the new miniature sheet Nature Protection - Beskydy Mountains unveiling and signing ceremony accompaning the Collector fair. Each stamp comes out with a first day cover and commemorative cancellation.

The last day, the Collector fair will commemorate British actor Lewis Collins who played the role of agent Bodie in the legendary British series The Professionals. After Collins’s death last year, Martin Shaw alias Doyle is the only one of the three famous CI5 agents still alive. Fans of The Professionals can get a special commemorative cancellation with a portrait of Bodie, a postcard dedicated to CI5 agents, and take a picture of a model of the Ford Capri MKII that featured in several episodes. The 3-litre car, which is identical with the one appearing in the series, was carefully restored by Jiří Moravec, President of the Czech Ford Capri Club.

If you want to become a member of the largest world community exchanging postcards, come to the conference room in Hall 6 on Saturday 6 September at 12 noon to meet members and fans of the website www.postcrossing.com with over 40 million users, of which over 10 thousand come from the Czech Republic.

Visitors can use tables, chairs and a computer and printer to generate addresses of recipients of a special postcard and commemorative cancellation officially issued by Czech Post to mark the gathering.

As in previous years, visitors can have their own postage stamps, coins, medals, securities and minerals valued or the authenticity of their golden jewellery tested by independent experts.

You can find more information on the programme on www.sberatel.info.