Tony's Childhood Matchbook Collection As kids, my sister Teri and I had the privilege of being taken on quite a few trips around the U.S. and even internationally. Usually it was for Rotary International conventions that my Mom and Dad were attending and made into great family trips. Some incredible experiences! Every place I went, they usually had free matchbooks for the taking, so I nabbed them, of course. What little boy wouldn't? The majority of these were acquired by me personally, but Mom and Dad would always bring home new ones on trips that they took, to bolster my collection. They were just stored away all these years, and even my best friend Ben hadn't seen these until just last weekend when he was up for a visit! I counted them as I put them away after photographing them and there are 514 of them. There are some duplicates, so I estimate that there are probably 460 unique matchbooks in this collection. A nice high resolution version is here if you want to scroll around and see them all. Lots are from Duluth restaurants that are out of business now, and several airlines like Western, Eastern, North Central Airlines and Braniff are in there. Nice eye candy! January 27, 2006