When I started collecting matchbox in 1962 or 1963 (10 - 11 years old), it was very common for boys in Siglufjörður to do so, but Siglufjörður is a small town in northern Iceland and is surrounded by high mountains and in those years road to the town was only open due to snow ca. 4 months a year, other transport was by sea twice a week. This small town had many people and many ships from many countries during the summer, because it was one of the main herring towns in the North Atlantic during the summer for many years. When my father saw how interested I was in collecting, he joined me in it, but he was a fisherman. When I moved away from home 19 years old the collection was with him and he continued collecting. Then we had also joined foreign collectors' clubs. Later, when he was older and starting to lose his sight, he told me that I had to come and get the collection and take over again, but he planned to follow in a similar way as I had done so I got the collection and have been active ever since. I collect labels all over the world, and never specialized in anything. Collect also match covers from the US Navy. It's hard to get them when you live on an island in the North Atlantic and as the only collector of such things there. Over the years I have been in contact with many collectors, who all have been very helpful to me. I do not know how many labels I have now, but for many years the goal was to acquire 100,000 labels and I kept a record of the number of labels and which countries they were from. When that was achieved, who was before I leaved home I stopped counting, but the collection is now in 155 A 4 books.
Hope this helps and that you can use some of this. Kind regards. Gísli
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