My first trip to Vegas was in 1981, and I preserved some ashtrays and a chip or two, and a few matchbooks, and whatever. Had a Lido de Paris program from the Stardust, a couple of pinback buttons from the Mint, and a few other odds & ends. Didn't know I was collecting, at the time!

Used some of the ashtrays, and a couple got broken. Threw away the Stardust program somewhere along the line , but still had the other stuff thrown in boxes.

Then...somewhere in the early/mid 1990's, found a Joe W. Brown's ashtray at a local flea market. Who was Joe W. Brown? Never heard of him...what's the story behind the ashtray? Was is one of those fake 'souvenir' things? Like 'your name in headlines' newspapers? Must be. Then a couple of months later found a postcard 'Million dollar display at Joe W. Brown's Horseshoe Casino'. Waaaaaaait just a minute here! I thought that the Horseshoe was always Binions and that's for sure Benny,s $1,000,000???? Then we went to Las Vegas. While in Vegas, stopped at Gambler's General Store and saw Art Anderson's ashtray book. The book had the story of Joe W. Brown's Horseshoe Club. I bought the book for $20...hey, it said my .75 ashtray was worth $12-$15 (I think )!!

When we got home, I dug around the basement looking for the box with casino ashtrays...found the box and started looking 'em up. Some were unlisted, some listed for $5-ish, some for $10-ish. Cool!! The rest is history....