Cigar bands in the wargaming room

When I was a kid, I collected cigar bands. That's to say, my grandfather smoked cigars, and I received a bunch of cigar bands whenever we visited. I don't remember ever having another source for my cigar bands.

In those days (perhaps this is still the case?), the cigar bands in a box of cigars came decorated according to a specific theme: birds, flowers, city views, that sort of thing. One box usually had one theme, and since a box had 24 cigars, each theme had 24 little different pictures. As a kid, I considered myself lucky each set I owned was complete. Now I understand why this was so.

Anyway, I glued the bands in an album, each page showing a different set. As happens with kid-like hobbies, once you grow up, you forget all about it. That is, until some time ago, when my mom showed me my old album full of cigar bands (I have the type of mum who never throws away stuff like that). Suddenly I recognized all the different series, memories stored deep away, suddenly brought back to active attention.

One of the themes was "Cavalry through the ages".  I framed the page, and hung it in my wargaming room. A nice addition to the set of decarotions!