Collector Profile - Tom Ahern

Name: Tom Ahern

 

Location: Co. Cork, Ireland

 

Occupation: Former Sales Administrator

 

Favourite Callcard:1158   ST. VALENTINE’S DAY  1997

 

Unfavourite callcard: 1115   S.D.S.    1996

 

Most money you've ever paid for a callcard: £1000 for  IMI PAIR

 

Best value callcard you've ever got: 1018 MILLENIUM  on Ebay for £1.99 Sterling

 

Best Callcard find you've ever come across: 1028 Patrick’s Day and 1035 Treaty of Limerick found in mixed bag of cards bought at Car Boot Sale  for IR£5      

           

Brief story of your callcard collecting:

Having collected stamps for almost 50 years, it was a natural progression to Phonecards.

I saw my first phonecard for sale in a local village shop in 1994 (1056 Aladdin) and I was hooked.  I joined the Callcard Club almost immediately and bought one of each of their past issues still remaining  in stock – luckily many!   Filled in the gaps and in the meantime started a worldwide  collection. In 2004, due to illness, took time out from swapping but spent my time sorting and cataloguing.  I restarted exchanging cards again in 2010 and hope to continue for many years to come.

 

Has collecting Callcards thought you anything:

Callcard collecting has given me more than thought me – including many great friends in Ireland and throughout the world.

 

Additional info/comments:

Even though the majority thankfully are very decent and honest people, beware of the sharks and cowboys out there!

 

 

Thanks Tom for taking the time to answer the questions! as ever we encourage you to submit your own collecting experiences here.