TORONTO -- Collectors and decorators will pay good money for public transit signs, but Jordan Munn stumbled upon a trove of authentic Toronto Transit Commission signs in the garbage.
Munn, 30, was walking by the recently renovated Pape subway station when he caught sight of something with the word "Trains" on it peeking out of a pile of trash in a bin beside the sidewalk.
He rifled through the refuse and managed to salvage four TTC platform signs, including a double-sided, electronic fixture that pointed passengers to the eastbound platform on the Bloor-Danforth line.
"I'm sure I broke a bylaw or something but I don't feel bad about it because it was going to be scrapped and so many people would want those," said Munn.
He immediately posted photos of the signs on the Toronto section of Reddit, the popular user-generated news and entertainment site.
The post attracted numerous comments from impressed Torontonians.
"I'm like close to tears I'm so jealous," commented one user.
Many were surprised that the TTC didn't try to sell the signs online or in a traditional auction.
A TTC spokesman said the agency does in fact have other relics from its illustrious history, such as vintage fare boxes and platform signage, lying in storage around the city.
"We need to come up with a business plan that allows us to sell this kind of material without taking a loss," Brad Ross said in an interview.
"In other words, does it cost us more to administer the selling of an old fare box, for example, than it does to store it?"
In the meantime, Ross says some items, like the signs Munn found, just aren't worth keeping, which is why they end up in the trash.
"I appreciate that some people might find them interesting," Ross said.
"Taking things from the trash is not permitted under city bylaws but let's be frank, here at the TTC, if somebody wishes to have something that we're throwing out, then that's fine, I don't have any issues with that at all."
New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) sells their own subway station fixtures, which are similar to Munn's TTC dumpster finds. The signs listed on the MTA's website are priced between $100 and $2,500.
Munn, however, wasn't concerned about making a profit on his find. He gave three of the signs away and kept one for himself, which he plans on refurbishing and mounting in his home.
"I got a lot of messages from people trying to buy the signs off me. But it wasn't worth selling them," Munn said.
"I wanted them to have a home where they belong."
