He’s hoping to get his MetroCard collection back on track. A broken-hearted Canadian MetroCard collector — yes people actually collect them — is reaching out to Big Apple residents for help replenishing his stolen transit treasure. Tech consultant Jeffrey Andrew, 26, lost his cherished and growing pile of 50 MetroCards when a thief broke into his Toronto home in December, swiping old headphones, clothes — and his box of metro mementos. “I was devastated,” Andrew said. “I’m not much of a money kind of guy. I’m much more about nostalgia and things that are meaningful. ” As more New Yorkers switch over to the tap-and-go OMNY payment system , Andrew begged residents online to send him their empty or expired transit cards collecting dust in their drawers, hoping to restart his collection. His filched MetroCards — including a framed variant from the 2018 limited edition David Bowie release as well as his very first yellow MetroCard purchased during a 2014 trip — mean “a lot more to me” than to everyday New Yorkers, Andrew moaned. “It would almost be equivalent to like if you go on a trip, and it’s like the best trip of your life and you get a souvenir, and then it’s stolen from you, and you have no way to really get it in your own country. ” At least one collector, freelance photojournalist Lev Radin , who has acquired almost every MetroCard variation, offered to part with some spares for the down-on-his-luck enthusiast. “I’m not a person who will be a millionaire from these cards,” Radin laughed. MetroCards were first introduced by the MTA in 1993, when the fare was a mere $1. 25. The cards, initially designed with a blue background and yellow font, were seen as a sleek replacement for cumbersome subway tokens. The transportation authority soon began selling ad space on the cards, while also issuing special editions to celebrate anniversaries and sports championships — 600 different variations over the years, according to Metrocard Central . Not everyone will be so quick to hand over their more unusual subway cards though, as some special-edition MetroCards can sell for decent chunks of change . Last year, Greg Loibl, 52, who claims to have been “the biggest collector of MetroCards” until the mid-2000s, recently sold a 1995 card advertising Gristede’s & Sloan’s Supermarkets on its back for $800 to a private collector, while a 1998 MetroCard with a “Big Apple” design brought in a cool $250. His rarest card, which he’s refused to sell so far, is a never-released collectible featuring imagery of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and other December holidays. “That’s an auction piece,” he said. “Maybe one day there’ll be a show and I can take it there. ” Advertisement Other MetroHeads, however, say the card often becomes inseparable from the memories of the places it took them to. “It was something I brought with me every single day as I traversed through college,” Dena Rosman, a 23-year-old analyst at JP Morgan, said. Her favorite has the Manhattan subway system on its face instead of the standard yellow design. “I think that having a physical item stays with you, being used so consistently, you form that connection, that identity. ”.