The Original Collectors Series: Dallas, TX

“The boxes are my father’s collection for my mother. Every day, they’d come home from work, have a cocktail, read the newspaper together and have dinner. One night he gave her a small present. She opened it and found a pillbox; she loved it. A month later, he gave her another one, and the next month, another. After the third, she looked at him and said, ‘OK, what’s going on?’ ‘Are you cheating on me?’ He had bought a gift plan for a new pillbox every month.

They had been married 44 years when my mother died tragically in a car accident. My dad kept collecting pillboxes; it reminded him of her. Wherever he went — China, Russia, Thailand, Italy Paris, Rome, Austria, England, Canada, Mexico — he’d go into stores and look for boxes. He loved to travel, when the Czech Republic and Turkey opened up to the United States, my dad was on a plane to visit right away.

He came to visit me a lot in Dallas and each time we’d go to lunch and to the antique shops, looking for pill boxes. I think it was a way he stayed connected to my mother. He was in the army during WWII and trained officers in Baltimore, which is where they met — she was volunteering in the Officer’s Club. Shortly after they met, he had to go back to Oklahoma to help with his father’s business, so he flew a single engine jet with no radar from Oklahoma to Baltimore. He did that six times in one year, and that was it. He saw her six times, proposed, and then they moved to Oklahoma.” — Daughter of collector

Which pieces are really special?

My favorite is the one with the cat on top, and I think the Limoges are a neat collection — a lot of them have little objects inside like a ballet shoe or a little fish. I also love the antique ones, there’s one bronze heart that has a calling card inside that says “1902” and an officer’s name.

What about the Qing Dynasty boxes? Did he get those in China?

He did get some in China and a few here in Dallas from a Chinese antiques store.

How big was the collection at its largest?

Over 1,000

For how many years did he collect?

27 years

Where were these displayed?

All over the living room on every single table. I have vivid memories of my son when he was learning to walk — and even when he was older — walking around the coffee table and picking them up to look at them. Whenever everybody gathered in the living room for holidays the collection provided entertainment for the kids.