Vintage matchbooks from Dallas

While in Dallas I happened upon a basket of vintage matchbooks in an antique store. I've never collected them before, but after glancing at a few of them, I ended up scouring the basket for at least five minutes, a pile of matchbooks stacking up on the floor next to me.

I was able to narrow it down to these twelve.

Some of them I loved for the illustrations, some for the subject matter, some for both. I guess Smokey the Bear is the mascot of the Parks Service, not Yellowstone National Park, but I still had to laugh at the bear on the matchbook cover. Maybe it's okay to play with matches sometimes?

I thought Oberg was a city in Sweden but it seems to be a common surname. I haven't yet figured out what the special offer for high school drop-outs is but it seems noteworthy that it was the only one whose matches had all been used.

I've always loved generic hotel postcards--same goes for matchbooks, I guess.

The one on the left is for a private investigator, which is so awesome. Love the fingerprint with the hat. Also note the illustrations on the back of the Yellowstone matchbook.

I also found another use for the letterpress tray: displaying these. I just wish more of the slots were wide enough to fit them.