Collecting cardboard, coins and some Beehive photos
Childhood memories are rekindled with a trip to the Sport Card Expo in Mississauga
This past February it was reported that an unopened case of 1979-80 National Hockey League cards had been discovered in the basement office of a family in Regina, Sask. They were produced by the now defunct O-Pee-Chee Candy and Trading Card Company.
This case was of particular interest to collectors since it was likely to contain several Wayne Gretzky “rookie cards.”
Three years ago, Dallas-based Heritage Auctions sold a 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Gretzky card for $3.75 million (U.S.), so you can imagine the excitement that ensued when the Regina family found this case of hockey cards.
The treasured case contained 16 boxes of cards. Each box contained 48 waxed packs, with 14 cards in each. That’s more than 10,000 total cards! The case had been intended to be sold to large retail stores who would open it and then sell individual packs to customers.
As a young boy, I collected all sorts of things: hockey and baseball cards, autographs, coloured marbles, coins, stamps, Beehive photographs and Salada-Shirriff plastic hockey coins. I often took my weekly allowance and bought a box of Jell-O at Routly’s Grocers, which was located at the corner of Brock and Park streets.
My purchase served two purposes. First, my grandmother would make me some Jell-O to have as dessert, and, second, with great anticipation, I would carefully sift through the contents of the box to find the treasured collectible plastic NHL hockey coin.
In addition to the Jell-O boxes, randomly inserted coins could be found in bags of Shirriff potato chips, pudding boxes and Salada tea. The 1961-62 Shirriff hockey set consisted of 120 coins featuring players from all six original NHL teams.
As well as collecting hockey coins, my friends and I collected hockey cards in the winter and baseball cards in the summer. Unlike today, our incentive for card collecting was not for an investment.
Rather, we collected cards so we could pitch them against a wall at school during recess time. The closest card to the wall would win all of the cards thrown.
The exception was if you managed to land your card upright against the wall. This was called a leaner. On subsequent throws, others would try to knock down the leaner. Doing so resulted in winning all of the cards that were thrown.
A few years later, I began collecting Beehive photographs. The St. Lawrence Starch Company created a promotion in Canada whereby consumers who provided proof of purchase, could send a product label to the company. In return, they would receive an NHL player photograph of their choice.
The NHL photos were used to promote many types of products, but the “Beehive” name originated from the company line of Beehive Corn Syrups. Over the course of three decades, 1,025 different player photographs were produced.
In the summer, my friends and I would often play scrub baseball, also known as workup, since, as a fielder, the goal was to work your way up to bat. Most of our games of scrub took place in the former Cameron Street School playground.
We also collected baseball cards. We kept our cards in shoeboxes, but the best part in the summer was affixing baseball cards to our bicycle spokes. Peddling our bicycles would produce a sound like a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Last weekend, I attended the Sport Card Expo in Mississauga. Being there rekindled my childhood memories. I returned home a few dollars lighter in my wallet, but pleased with my purchase of several Beehive hockey photos and a few vintage 1970s hockey cards.