Jump to content

      



























Photo

Sports Collectibles shops in Victoria?


  • Please log in to reply
12 replies to this topic

#1 AllseeingEye

AllseeingEye

    AllSeeingEye

  • Member
  • 6,543 posts

Posted 18 January 2019 - 12:29 AM

Back in the day from the late 70's to early 90's, I was fairly heavily involved in buying, trading, and collecting sports collectibles.

 

It mostly entailed collecting hockey and baseball cards from mainstream pro leagues (NHL, MLB), limited edition items such as hockey team pins (Canucks, Canadiens), a focus on Mickey Mantle special insert card sets, as well as signed Gordie Howe card 'strips' featuring himself and his son Marty Howe on a 1991 Western Canadian tour etc. The cream of the collection is a series of 8.5 x 11" B & W photos of the Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup champion dynasty teams of the 50's that my dad bought for me from, of all places, an old barn/garage sale in Nova Scotia in the mid-90's. He paid $20 for the lot. It included signed pictures of the entire team which featured Jean Beliveau, Doug Harvey, Bill Durnan and the centre-piece of the collection, the Rocket himself. Anecdotally I've been told this piece of my collection could be worth between $3-5000K.

 

I stepped away from the hobby around 1993 due to the crazy devaluation that occurred at the time due to the mass over production of all the major league NA sports card/companies that nearly sank the industry.

 

I recently dusted off a wealth of stuff that's been stored in the crawl space for several years and have started to renew my interest in my collection and the hobby. Of course nearly 25 years later those local dealers and retailers I got to know then are long gone now; the retail side of the industry really contracted by the end of the 90's due to the aforementioned plunge in collectible values at the time.

 

Do any other VV's collect sports cards and memorabilia and most critically can you recommend a good Victoria dealer outlet with whom you deal or have dealt with personally?



#2 shoeflack

shoeflack
  • Member
  • 2,861 posts

Posted 18 January 2019 - 09:17 AM

I was massively into this as a younger buck and still dabble with a few players. Unfortunately there's not much in Victoria these days. There's a small shop on Wharf Street downtown (Triple Play), but that's about it. MVP Sports Cards on Fort used to be the best in town, but it's long gone.

 

Your best bet is either online or the show scene...the Bossa shows on the mianland are pretty solid. They have a low-key monthly show, but it's the annual shows that are king. And if you're ever in Toronto when the Expo is on...that place is a dream for collectors.

 

Online is solid too. HobbyInsider is where the big boys play.


  • AllseeingEye likes this

#3 AllseeingEye

AllseeingEye

    AllSeeingEye

  • Member
  • 6,543 posts

Posted 18 January 2019 - 06:24 PM

/\ ......thanks for the links Shoe; yes back in the day MVP was definitely the go-to place in town for collectibles and also solid advice from the owners regarding the hobby in general. I'll keep an eye out on the Bossa show schedule on the mainland. 



#4 Matt R.

Matt R.

    Randy Diamond

  • Member
  • 7,861 posts

Posted 18 January 2019 - 07:15 PM

I noticed at last years Capital City Comic convention there were sellers with sport memorabilia along side their comics and other collectibles. The “market” segment was a pretty big portion of the event floor.

Tickets are on sale for this year, so far the big star is Marina Sirtis.

Matt.

#5 AllseeingEye

AllseeingEye

    AllSeeingEye

  • Member
  • 6,543 posts

Posted 18 January 2019 - 08:15 PM

Yeah they tend to have a significant presence at comic/collectible shows wherever they occur, typically at rec centers and in particular Pearkes and also the Winspear Center in Sidney.

 

Its not just about monetary value either at least for me: a collectibles show which included sports cards, vintage toys, comics and model trains was the last thing my dad and I ever did together, just the two of us, in Sidney in 2012 exactly one week before he passed unexpectedly. "Collectibles"/shows for that reason, and because model trains in particular were a love of his, hold a special place in my memory.



#6 AllseeingEye

AllseeingEye

    AllSeeingEye

  • Member
  • 6,543 posts

Posted 01 April 2019 - 07:38 PM

You know you're getting older when: the highlight of your day is discovering the 12", 20th anniversary Optimus Prime robot-toy-figurine you purchased at a collectibles show over a decade ago for $150 is now valued at close to $500 USD.

 

On a similar note I wandered into the BC Shaver and Hobby shop on Fort Street recently. The business has been for sale for a year now, thus far with no takers. They'll shutter it for good next month if no buyer steps up.

 

Was shocked to hear that not that many years ago there were as many as seven outlets in town where you could purchase model railroads/RR components, but when the Shaver Shop goes there will be exactly none, the closest one then being a large hobby retailer in Vancouver. Goes to show I guess how far the hobby/collectibles market has plummeted. Kind of sad IMO.



#7 Mike K.

Mike K.
  • Administrator
  • 83,172 posts

Posted 01 April 2019 - 07:47 PM

Video games.

Kids used to physically involve themselves with things once upon a time. Now they’re glued to tablets and playing PS4 (or whatever the latest version is).
  • AllseeingEye and Matt R. like this

Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.


#8 Matt R.

Matt R.

    Randy Diamond

  • Member
  • 7,861 posts

Posted 01 April 2019 - 11:23 PM

My son has been hosting a weekly D&D campaign at our house the last year or so, and I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to see a group of six or more 12-17 year olds sitting at my kitchen table playing this game, using their imaginations and wetware and getting into character.

Matt.
  • Mike K., AllseeingEye, grantpalin and 2 others like this

#9 jasmineshinga

jasmineshinga
  • Member
  • 332 posts

Posted 02 April 2019 - 07:25 AM

D&D predominates in this town, there's even a subReddit. Too bad there aren't more WoD groups around, or female-friendly gaming stores :) I miss using my imagination with friends.


~ Jasmine ~


#10 AllseeingEye

AllseeingEye

    AllSeeingEye

  • Member
  • 6,543 posts

Posted 09 April 2019 - 08:49 PM

Well sometimes you never know what you're going to find when you dig deep into the vault.

 

We recently finished remodeling the kidlin's old bedroom into a combination den/TV room including - thankfully - a large shelving display for my collectibles that have literally been sitting in boxes in the crawl space for the better part of a decade.

 

After my "re-discovery" recently of a prized Transformers figurine/model and it tripling in value since I purchased it, I was curious to uncover other goodies; they've included so far signed Rocket Richard, Doug Harvey and Jacques Plante 8.5 x 11 glossies from the Montreal Canadiens' dynasty of the 1950's, a couple of early Bobby Orr O-Pee-Chee hockey cards and this gem - a 1966 X-Men comic: the face retail value of the latter 53 years ago was .12. The graded value today per eBay, Amazon and a leading comic grading service is just over $2500 CDN. I may have to put a lock on the den door :).



#11 LJ

LJ
  • Member
  • 12,701 posts

Posted 10 April 2019 - 07:54 PM

How much would a hockey stick signed by Tim Horton from around 1965 be worth?


Life's a journey......so roll down the window and enjoy the breeze.

#12 AllseeingEye

AllseeingEye

    AllSeeingEye

  • Member
  • 6,543 posts

Posted 10 April 2019 - 09:29 PM

How much would a hockey stick signed by Tim Horton from around 1965 be worth?

Short answer is "it depends" - on the stick make/model, the condition of the stick as well as the autograph, in which market its being evaluated (if its Ontario and anything hockey-related, prices jump exponentially), and who if anyone else signed it.

 

Right now on Kijiji there are a couple of TH- signed sticks ranging between $2800-5000, but only because they were also signed by other Leaf stars from that team such as Keon, Bower, Brewer, Amstrong, Mahovlich etc.

 

Best option is to check out the collectibles pages on eBay, Amazon etc., which will give you some rough ballpark $'s LJ.

 

Anything signed by a famous deceased celebrity/athlete tends to increase over time - obviously they aren't putting their signatures onto memorabilia anymore so all things being equal their value rises particularly if they were a popular, well known or beloved personality. Probably more Canadians alive today know "TH" as a coffee chain more so than recalling its namesake as a stellar NHL defenceman - but virtually all Canadians are well acquainted with his name.


Edited by AllseeingEye, 10 April 2019 - 09:30 PM.


#13 LJ

LJ
  • Member
  • 12,701 posts

Posted 11 April 2019 - 07:44 PM

He gave me the stick as door prize at some hockey meeting I was at, just signed it and handed it to me for a door prize or prize draw.


  • AllseeingEye likes this
Life's a journey......so roll down the window and enjoy the breeze.

 



0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users