The Australian Playing Card Collectors Society (APCCS) had its beginnings in 1979 and was formed officially in February, 1980, to bring together people interested in collecting playing cards. Originally thought of as a Melbourne centric club, it has grown to include membership Australia wide, as well as a sprinkling of overseas collectors. Members may choose to collect singles, combinations, themes, in fact whatever they like for their own collections – the club encourages members to enjoy the hobby they have embraced, in whatever direction they so choose, and have fun.
The club was incorporated in 1988, and membership grew steadily through the 1990s and into the 21st century, and today exceeds 200 members. Club anniversary celebrations were held for our 10th, 20th, 25th and 30th anniversaries, each of them suitably themed and wonderfully successful. In addition to celebrating our own milestones, the club nonetheless has strongly supported charitable organisations throughout our lifetime, and the membership has so far contributed in excess of $50,000 to date to various charities, an achievement of which we are very proud.
The club has always been and currently is run by a small committee of dedicated volunteers who themselves are all active and enthusiastic collectors but also choose to give back to the club some of the pleasure they have gained from their club membership.
The club caters for the extensive variety of categories that are collected by members, many of which are now available in a large range of catalogues which have been produced by card collectors around the world to assist collectors and their never ending search for that elusive ‘gem’. Arguably the club is the most successful club available for playing card collectors.
APCCS hold monthly meetings at St Mark’s Church hall in Reservoir, a northern suburb of Melbourne where thousands of cards are available for members, and visitors, to purchase. Everyone is always welcome to these meetings.
We promote a friendly spirit of mutual help for visitors and members alike. Our activities include production of a newsletter on a quarterly basis, regular auctions at meetings, and the introduction of new cards and the occasional collection are made available as soon as they are obtained. We have an extensive library for the use of members which covers many categories of collecting and, we trust, have created an atmosphere of friendship and self-help at our various club functions. To all, we hope you will join our club where you can help our members share our love of the hobby.