AFL trading cards dealer Shane Penrose said the hobby was popular with young adults.
Kids often quit, considering it childish, as teenagers. “But when they hit their early 20s, they say, ‘Hang on, this is cool’ and get back into it,” Penrose said.
Lifelong passion: Shane Penrose with a few of the cards he’s collected in the past 50 years.Credit: Penny Stephens
“I’ve seen guys spend thousands of dollars at a trading fair.”
Penrose, who owns about 500,000 football cards and runs the Melbourne Card Fair, started collecting at age six in 1975 when his grandmother, Louie, gave him a footy card from a bread packet depicting Collingwood star Peter McKenna.
Penrose later bought 20-cent packs of Scanlens chewing gum that contained random cards, and he traded big names like Richmond’s Kevin Bartlett with friends.
Penrose said the public’s interest faded in the 1980s, but in the early 1990s, the popularity of NBA stars like Michael Jordan revived the yen for sports cards.
Precious piece: Shane Penrose’s favourite card is a 1909 image of Collingwood great Jock McHale.Credit: Penny Stephens
In 1993, the Select brand started selling pre-signed AFL cards, and the hobby has grown since, says Penrose.
Penrose’s oldest and favourite card, from 1909, is a cigarette card, signed on the back, depicting Collingwood player, and later coach, Jock McHale.
Penrose says it could be worth thousands of dollars, but he would not sell it.
Among cards Penrose covets is the draft-pick card of Collingwood star Nick Daicos. There were 40 made and the one with Daicos’ guernsey number, 35, could fetch up to $12,000. “Even more if he wins the Brownlow,” Penrose said.
One “curiosity” player in his collection is Peter Bennett, who did pre-season training with the Adelaide Crows in 1991, and had a card issued, but never played a game.
Penrose says people could buy cards on the internet, but Sunday’s expo allowed them to meet people and check the condition of cards.
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