Collector's rare finds span 15,000 years of skating history

Most of us have boxes of knick-knacksandold photograph albumscrammed into the corners of ourbasements, but one Ottawa man has a distinctlyCanadian collection that spans thousands of years.

Jean-Marie Leduc, a retired public servant,collects skates. Lots of them.

What started as a love affair with speed skating has morphed into a vast collection of 367 pairs of skates and a book titledLace Up: A History of Skates in Canada,inspired by his own collection.

"Myson was a speed skater in 1977 and 1978. He got into skating and I followed him," Leduc told CBC Radio'sOttawa Morning.

His interest in the sport morphed into a fascination with the history of the skates themselves, and the one question that drives his collecting habit: "Do the people know what people skated on 100 years back?"

Whale,buffalo bone skates

Leduc has 22 bins of skates in his home, numbered, coded and secured with large padlocks.

It's no random collection; Leduc is a collector who knows what he's hunting for.

"I'd been looking [for this]for 12 years," he said, gesturing to one wooden skatefrom 1871 that would inspire the lifting mechanism on speed skates today.

But that's not even the oldest piece of Leduc'scollection, which includesskatesmade from buffalo and whale bones that date back 15,000 years.

"They had a pole and they were pushing themselves, a little bit like people do when skiing," he explained.

He'd found the setin another aficionado'scollectionand purchased themfor $24 a deal she would later come to regret, he laughed.

The most sentimental pair, however, are skates Olympic championBarbara Ann Scott wore, signed just for him.

Leduc met Scottat an exhibition he hosted. The famous skater had asked to meet him after hearing of his collection. After chatting for a few minutes, he asked her for an autograph. She winked and promised him a pair of her skates, too.

Though his passion for skating is unimpeachable, Leduc doesn't skate himself.

"I was a tennis player, and because of the type of shoes we wore, and they wore out my arches."

His book launched Tuesday,and isalready sold out at some locations.