Joe W. Brown's Horseshoe Club was the first ashtray that we collected (bought)....

We'd never heard of Joe W. Brown...thought the 'Shoe had always been Binion's. Got the tray home and searched through a few "Las Vegas Style" magazines and "Behind the Tables" by Barney Vinson. That was all the reading material we had on Las Vegas. Couldn't find anything. Finally about decided that it was a "souvenir" ashtray...you know, like the mock newspapers they'll print with your name in the headlines. Anyway, we forgot about the tray.

A few months later we found a B&W postcard that showed the million dollar display at Joe W. Brown's Horseshoe Club. Looked at "Behind the Tables" again, and it definitely indicated that Binion had originated the milion dollar display. I wrote a letter to Barney Vinson to see if he could shed any light on our puzzlement.

Before we heard back from him, we left for a vacation in Las Vegas. We were in an old antique shop and saw the same tray. We asked the shop owner about it. He got all excited and ran upstairs and got the Joe W. Brown craps game. He told us about Benny serving time for tax evasion, and Joe W. running the place while Benny was gone. He said that he and the Binion kids had assembled the contents in the game boxes.

A day or two later we were in Gambler's General store and saw Art Anderson's book. I picked it up and looked up the Joe W. tray....HOLY COW!!!! Our 50¢ ashtray listed for $12-$15!!!! So, of course, I spent $20 for the book to document the 50¢ ashtray! Then had to keep collecting to justify spending the $20....

That was the start of our collection. Mark, thanks for triggering the plesant memories.

What started your collection? Anyone else want to share?