My dad was a collector. He collected match boxes, stamps, coins, paper money (not as in wads of cash!), and gadgets. Lots of gadgets.

I guess I got my collecting gene from him. Same as I got my ‘will try my hand at anything and do it reasonably well’ gene.

Thank you dad 🙂 !

So, while clearing out the upstairs house in Athens in order to renovate and rent it, I also had to do a little more sorting and clearing out of the storage room.

Among the things I’d left to ‘deal with later’, was dad’s collection of match boxes. There was a laundry basket full of them. There were tons from all over the world, nothing significant, but some pretty ones that appealed to me.

I decided to give them away, so listed them on Facebook marketplace. I wanted them to go to someone who was a collector rather than to a secondhand dealer who would just sell them. In the end I chose a nice man who’d had a break-in and had a ton of stuff stolen, including his match box collection.

Before I gave them away, though, I went through and selected a few to keep as a memento. These are the ones I kept. I’ve always loved the Redhead matches, and there was a series of hand drawn Australian native animals I felt I had to keep, among them.

I glued them onto some cardboard and took them to my good friend’s framing shop and had her frame them for me.

You will notice that the bottom corner was short one matchbox in my trial layout. In order to fill that, I cut a small photo of our family on the day we got our Australian citizenship and glued that to a new match box.

I love the look of the framed collection, and adding the photo gives it a more personal touch.

Given my place is small and there are already too many things in it, there wasn’t much choice of where to put it. For now I’ve hung it over the bathroom door, near the framed photo of dad in a cowboy costume. You can see that photo here.

I am definitely getting more nostalgic in my old age! I’m constantly finding things from the past that I want to keep and display wherever possible.

I need a bigger place!!!

Anyway, I’m glad I kept some of dad’s match boxes and can now enjoy them and the memories they bring.

z