I have been a collector for most of my life.
Somehow this seemed more important than some of the longer goals of many of my peers.
Undoubtedly the collecting came from my love of pop culture, and my ability to retain knowledge of my favourite film director over the stuff I was being taught at school.
The continued reading of comic books, in addition to more adult fair also probably played a roll.
What I found was interesting and I kept, became a collection, which eventually necessitated the need to start revising and reassessing what I owned.
In particular the non-sport trading cards played a large roll in this.
My earliest memory of cards were collecting the Australian NRL football cards. Just my team (Eastern Sydney Roosters), but quickly moved on to non-sports with the Kung Fu and Planet of the Apes TV series, eventually reaching the first series of Star Wars cards.
I lost a lot of these cards to my friend Aris, but eventually completed two sets, one of which I gave to my friend Dean.
These cards stayed with me from house move to house move. Growing as new sets were released, but these were always just the straight sets, with lots of cheap chewing gum. Once I was old enough, and the hobby was too, I was storing the cards in 9 card sheets, in binders.
By the early 1990’s, living and working in Chatswood, NSW, I would regularly stop into the comic shop and pick up a few packs of whatever I was collecting at the time.
At this time Chase cards were just becoming a thing, so debate on where the chase cards were, was a bit of a thing. When opening a new box, I would buy the top layer of cards. Or was it the middle layer? I never found a pattern, if there was one, but did luck on to a few nice cards.
Variants were also a thing, so when the Nickelodeon set featuring Ren & Stimpy was released, and some cards were prism background, other clear reflective, the question was do you collect both, or a mix? I recall Terry from Land Beyond, Beyond was collecting both.
At some point chase cards with multiple levels started appearing. The pair of Judge Dredd (Movie and Epics) were a bit of a treat with three different chase sets, including the impossible to find Black Dark Judges cards. that cost me quite a bit to finally complete. A set based on the Reboot animated series had some nice chase sets too. Even properties that I wasn’t that interested in, like the film Waterworld, at least had some interesting cards. Other like Stargate, the cards were a bit of a let down.
The at the turn of the millennium a friend Michael took me on a trip into a card shop near Victoria Market to buy a box of Sleepy Hollow cards each. these were the first cards I remember with a guaranteed autograph in each box. As it turned out it was a autograph redemption card, but Michael offered to organise it, and before long I had the Danny Elfman autograph I had scored, and he had his Jeffrey Jones card. (though listed on the redemption cards, apparently Johnny Depp and Tim Burton didn’t return their signed cards).
At this card shop they also had the recently released Twilight Zone from Ritterhouse Archives, which I also bought a box of. From that I pulled a William Shatner autograph, and that set me on my way down a long expensive rabbit hole, which I am still to emerge from.
Things have not changed too much from this point. Sets now a regularly released with multiple chase sets over and above the base set. Autograph cards along with Relic and costume cards are common. Official binders accompany releases. The only change in the lest few decades has been the dropping of Sell Sheets – the A4 sized flyers that used to promote a release. these could sometimes be problematic for the manufacturer, as the details may change at the last minute, making these details incorrect.
After years of purchasing, where I reached to point of buying cases of some cards, I have ended up with so many spare sets, as well as a few choice cards that I bought, believing they were selling for less that I though they were worth, I have started selling in earnest. Starting with Melbourne Movie Market, and then ComiExpo and now the Astor Film Bazaar, I have really enjoyed hosting a table at some fine Melbourne events. this does not help reach all the folks that may be potential buyers, so I have made a real effort in 2022 to list all my spare cards on eBay.
Not everything is cards though, so in addition to the cards, movie posters, magazines, books and collectable figures are next to be on offer.
and that will be the focus of this site. Supporting the dealers tables, supplementing the ebay listings.
I hope you find something that you like.