Featured guests and former ice hockey stars Paul Coffey, Bobby Hull, and Ed Jovanovski drew a huge crowd of sports fans to Langley for the 2022 Western Canada Collectibles Experience.
The Langley Events Centre became a dreamland for collectors of sports memorabilia as hundreds of vendors brought the rarest of rare – literally thousands of dollars worth of collectibles – to the local sports collectors convention.
“Meeting the hockey stars was like cherry on the cake,” said Chad, one of the visitors, who was looking for a cheap, but a rare, collectible item.
The hockey stars were present at the venue to sign autographs for those who bought the special tickets. People were seen lining up to meet and get clicked with the former hockey champions.
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The three-day event started on Friday, attracted people from across the Lower Mainland – some willing to spend thousands of dollars for the right keepsake.
For Tsawwassen-based Chad, it was exciting to see the wide variety of cards and other collectibles at the event.
“There is so much to see. I come here with no expectations, but always find so many great things… hard to chose from and you just spend a lot of money,” he added.
Chad’s feelings did not come as surprise to vendors, either. They too were seen appreciating each others collections and even making deals and exchanging wares.
For Jayden Shull, a hockey player and one of the vendors, it was an opportunity to show-off his collection and make some dollars.
Selling high-end items like Connor McDavid and LeBron James collectible cards, Shull was selling off his collection, which took him a year to build.
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“I have been coming to this show for the past couple of years. It is good to see that things you do with hobby are slowly coming to mainstream.”
Through the years, he has observed a shift in markets and prices.
“Cards that were sold for a couple of dollars are now in the market for 20-something-dollars,” he explained.
Thousands of collectible items including cards, jerseys, photographs, and more were on sale. Items ranged from $10 to $20,000.
One of the highest value items was a $20,000 jersey signed by basketball legend Kobe Bryant.
The next Western Canada Collectibles Experience will be held at LEC on Nov. 18 to 20.
For more information, people can visit westerncanadacollectiblesexperience.ca, or call 604-882-8800.
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