HOBBY POSTCARD: CZECH REPUBLIC

What’s going on in overseas markets? We asked, Pavel Bartko, the owner of hokej-karty.cz to give us a quick overview of the hobby in the Czech Republic.

Our market in the Czech Republic is much smaller than the United States and Canada. Together with the Slovak market, I’d guess there are about 5,000 collectors and I think many of them are casual. at said, we are starting in on a second wave of collecting, a er the first big wave in the 1990s.

Just like North America, our collectors want RCs. Many people collect Connor McDavid, but of course the main interests are our own players. Jaromir Jágr and Dominik Hašek are the most wanted and, from the new wave of Czech stars, David Pastrňák and Tomáš Hertl. Dominik Kubalík and Pavel Francouz are also popular.

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz shows off a pair of his cards from the 2019-20 Moje Karticky Czech National Team series. (photo courtesy Lukas Kopp)

ere is a Czech company called OFS that makes cards of our league, but collectors here are mainly interested in Upper Deck products. People really like Artifacts, O-Pee-Chee Platinum and SP Authentic, but over the last year there was also heavy demand for Black Diamond, Premier and e Cup. We sold out of our supply of 2018-19 e Cup in just one week!

Many people, including me, like to collect older inserts from Pacific and Topps, but from what I can see there’s interest in those cards in your countries over the last few years as well. And many Czech collectors love older wax, from the 1990s up to 2004. We’re always looking to buy them for our customers and they’re getting harder to find.