1946		1988

Larry Becker's collecting was closely connected to both his personal and professional lives, each giving shape and sustenance to the other. At first, his interests - like those of innumerable other young hobbyists - focused on familiar items, like coins and cards. Later, his interests both broadened and deepened: he began to focus his personal collecting on Toronto, and he opened a series of stores devoted to selling coins and collectibles.

Personal Life

Born just before the outbreak of World War II, Larry Becker grew up in central Toronto near Dundas and Ossington, where his father ran a cigar store next to the Lakeview Lunch, bought war stamps, and volunteered as an air warden with A. R. P. Around 1948, the family moved north to the Vaughan and Oakwood area where Larry and his younger brother Harold attended Rawlinson Public School and Vaughan Road Collegiate. After high school, Larry attended Lakeshore Teachers' College, married fellow-teacher Rose Weber in 1961, and taught primary school in Welland, Ontario, before returning to Toronto in June 1965 to start collecting for profit (his businesses) and posterity (his Toronto collection).

From 1965 to 1996, the growing Becker family lived at 25 Lesgay Crescent in North York, where Becker's personal collection not only was established, but also came to dominate the domestic environment - covering every horizontal surface available, including chairs, tables, sofas, and floors. "We lost the battle" against clutter, Rose Becker has often commented, although Larry's collection also transformed their home into a fascinating, mini-museum of Toronto. In December 1996, the Beckers moved to a larger place in the Kettleby countryside where Larry had planned to retire and work on his collection. Sadly, that plan was never realized since Larry Becker died on February 20, 1998.

Becker's life as a collector began early. Around the time he became a cub scout in the mid-1940s , young Larry began collecting the coins and postcards that became centrepieces of his personal and professional collecting lives. Both his father and grandfather had been small-scale collectors. If there is a gene for collecting, Larry Becker inherited it. When given an old cigar tin containing George V pennies, Becker began the coin collection that grew into a business. A few years later, when given some postcards stamped 1908, Larry became so fascinated by the crowds and pre-TTC streetcars rattling along King Street that he began the postcard collection that became a focus of his private collection.

Even before entering high school, therefore, Becker was primed to become a collector. After reading Edwin C. Guillet's Toronto: From Trading Post to Great City during high school, adolescent Larry was hooked on Toronto's history. Thirty years later, Larry Becker received a Bicentennial Medal to recognize his collecting and promoting of Toronto's history.

On the homefront, Becker documented his family's history with the same energy and tenacity that he applied to his Toronto collection, as is illustrated by his speech to Diana on her wedding day, and the records relating to his father and other family members … including the dogs.

Business Life

In 1965, Larry Becker, with the active assistance of his wife Rose, opened the first of three businesses: North Toronto Coins at 3234 Yonge Street, which dealt in coins, medals, tokens, and related numismatics. After immersing himself in the world of coin collecting, Becker saw the amazing range of other materials available on the market. He soon branched out into postcards and "collectibles," started his personal collection, and opened North Toronto Collectibles as a division of North Toronto Coins. According to an early ad, North Toronto Collectibles specialized in Canadiana and stocked a "fascinating, ever changing array" of collectibles, including:

militaria, badges, medals, insignia, police, fire, security, documents, books, publications, world coins, paper money, stamps, envelopes, maps, old postcards, old advertising items, transportation (trains, ships, aircraft), tokens, timetables, license plates, photographs, bottles, embossed bottles, magazines, toys - and more, much, much more!

While Larry did all the research, purchasing, pricing, and display, Rose helped with the accounting, advertising, marketing, and sales - including doing the rounds of coin shows, military shows, toy shows, paper shows, and other collectibles shows.

Professional organizations are an important part of being a dealer and contributing to the profession. Larry, therefore, was an active member of many groups, including, the Toronto Postcard Club, the Toronto Coin Club, the Canadian and American Numismatic Associations, the Military Collectors' Club of Canada, and the Ephemera Society of Canada.

After 20 years in collectibles, Becker relocated and renamed his business, opening Larry Becker's Collectibles Warehouse at 438 Limestone Crescent in 1985, and at 45 Brisbane around 1995. There, accompanied by his dogs and his enthusiasms, Larry Becker continued buying, selling, and discussing collectibles - some of which found their way into his personal Toronto collection.

Although Becker used the same skills for both his businesses and his private collecting, and did offer some Toronto items for sale, he kept the best Toronto items for his private collection, often replacing lesser items with better items and offering the lesser items for sale. After his death, the business was dispersed, but the all-important Toronto collection was kept in tact and given to the people of Toronto.