It seems only fitting that Paul Michael Kloepfer's business card has a fancy title and his signature.
Kloepfer, who is known as Doc to his friends, has been collecting business cards since he was a child. His pre-signed business card identifies him as Texas Admiral P. M. (Doc) Kloepfer.
"I am an honorary admiral in the state of Texas, appointed by George W. Bush, when he was governor," he said, showing certificates naming him an Admiral in the Texas Navy and an Honorary Texan. "I asked for them - I knew they were available."
It was during a childhood train trip with his mother that Kloepfer's interest in collecting business cards began.
"The first card I got was the conductor of the train. I went and met him and he gave me his card. That was the start of it," he said. "I was six."
Kloepfer's collection of 80,000 business cards is contained in business card books and binders, all neatly arranged in briefcases.
"When I was somewhere and wanted somebody's signature, I got it from them. It's gotten to a point now, where it is everybody," he said. "It's proof that I met these people. It's also a very unusual thing to do."
Kloepfer later decided that he'd prefer to have people sign their business cards.
"I thought, anybody can get somebody's card," said Kloepfer, who isn't impressed by unsigned cards. "That means absolutely nothing to me. I could have gotten it from anybody."
Kloepfer's collection includes business cards from Canadian prime ministers and U.S. presidents, but he considers the card belonging to businessman Donald Trump to be his favourite.
"That's my personal favourite because of the way it is made," he said. "It has his logo, which is unusual. There's not T or D on it. It says nothing about it being real estate."
Kloepfer has put The Donald's card under wraps because part of it was starting to rub off.
"My cards are laminated for protective purposes. Everyone wanted to touch Donald Trump's. His logo started to come off," he said. "I got myself a laminating machine. I take the card and put it into the pouches. There are no ways of getting to the cards."
Kloepfer's vast collection of cards includes business people, politicians and police chiefs from across Canada and the United States.
"I have very few cards outside North America," he said. "Yes, I have Margaret Thatcher's. Yes, I have the chancellor of Germany - before this chancellor - Gerhard Schröder. He sent me an autographed photo. People that send photos are really proud."
Kloepfer, 62, has been collecting business cards so long that he's outlived some of the people who have contributed to his collection of autographed cards and photographs, including Elvis Presley, John F. Kennedy and famed attorney Johnnie Cochran.
"It's a part of history," he said. Kloepfer said he was about 13 when he started getting people to sign the cards, which he has been "vigorously" collecting for 25 years.
"I have cards of people you might not like but I have them because maybe they are infamous - Brian Mulroney," he said. "I don't have Joe Clark's - he never fascinated me. It's funny that I don't because I have every prime minister since Pearson."
While Kloepfer has business cards signed by the likes of Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Ken Thomson (once among the richest people in the world) and Richard Nixon, he's still on the hunt for more.
He said he averages about five new cards a week, many of them acquired over the phone.
Although he's been collecting the cards for decades, Kloepfer derives great pleasure from looking over his collection.
"It's at least weekly. I look at them all at least weekly," he said. "Some daily - just because I want to look at them."
In addition to autographed business cards and photographs, Kloepfer has a small collection of police badges and a collection of pens he's received from various people.
Kloepfer, who has lived in New Westminster for three years, said he's applying for a disability pension because he's unable to work because of poor health. Kloepfer said his longtime source of income has ended and he's facing eviction from the apartment where he's been living for the past three years.
"I am at the bottom," he said. "I have nothing except brains and a card collection."
- Are you a collector? If you have a collection to share with our readers, email Theresa McManus, [email protected].
