It was back in 1979 that I set out to re-acquire the treasures of my formative years. I was aware of only two comic shops in Toronto that carried cards in 1979-81. One was Comics Unlimited on Keewatin Avenue just east of Yonge Street at which I purchased my first Non-Sport sets -
Funny Valentines and
Funny Valentines A:
The
Man from U.N.C.L.E.,
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,
Drag Nationals and
Official Drag Champs quickly followed. The other store with cards was Queen’s Comics & Collectibles on Queen Street just east of Woodbine Avenue. Cards were also available at Dreamland Comics in Hamilton on James Street North. When I saw NM sets of the 1959, 1960, 1963 and 1964 Topps
CFL cards one day in 1981 I couldn’t reach for my wallet quickly enough!
1959
1960
1963
I later learned that there was also a stamp/coin shop in Hamilton just north of Dreamland that dealt in cards so perhaps there might have been a couple of other such shops in Toronto of which I wasn’t aware.
Dedicated card shows didn’t make an appearance in Toronto (and perhaps anywhere in Canada) until about 1986 and they were then really low budget affairs held in less than first class halls/meeting rooms. I also remember being actually excited to learn that another (my second) card show was going to take place in far away Niagara Falls in 1987(?).
Here's a picture of legendary Canadian card collector Angelo Savelli of Hamilton set up at a card show in Scarborough(eastern Toronto) circa 1986:
I might have missed that particular show because I was out of town. I'd made Angie's acquaintance at an earlier show though and had followed that up by visiting him at his home in Hamilton where I bought a set of the first series of the 1969 Topps
Football cards from him. (This was back when I thought I could have every card Topps had ever issued!)
Just a few years thereafter in the late 1980's newspapers and other media sources started running stories about the prices fetched by the T206 Honus Wagner and 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle cards and card collecting absolutely exploded in popularity with the general public. By about 1992 or so Angie himself opened a "King of Cards" store on Barton Street in Hamilton which I'd visit on occasion. His store was actually on the way (maybe a two mile walk) to Ivor Wynn Stadium from the GO train stop in the magnificent old Hamilton Harbour CN station. After any Hamilton Tiger-Cats game I could then walk briskly to the old Greyhound station on Cannon Street and catch the last Lakeshore GO bus which would let me off after 45 minutes or so right in front of my house in SW Mississauga.
On one of my visits to Angie's store circa 2000, I learned that he was keeping his T206 Honus Wagner card in his safety deposit box at the bank. When I asked whether he ever thought of selling it since he couldn't exactly derive any delight from owning it when it was locked away at the bank, he replied "Every day, Vay, every day." Within six months to a year, he had done exactly that with a sale of all his Sports cards but
Hockey and CFL to a big California dealer.
Those days were certainly different, albeit not necessarily better. The internet has certainly done wonders to put collectibles and collectors together.
