Does Anyone Collect Matchbooks and Matchbook Covers?

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boxingcardman

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Posts: 929

Posted 1716851537	Reply with quote #1

I just acquired a gigantic collection of these, mostly from the fossil fuels (oil, gas, service stations) industry but some Los Angeles and Hollywood too. 1930s-1940s. Some are full books, some are flats, some are unused flats, and lots of bobtails. A couple of features. Graphics are really nice on some of them. I'll post some when I get some scanned. __________________ God is not on our side because He hates idiots--The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly The demagogue is the public face of collective stupidity--Chris Hedges Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities--Voltaire Judge a man by how he treats someone who can do nothing for him--Nick Charles Looking for top quality cards at a discount. And something healthy that tastes like a bacon cheeseburger. https://adamstevenwarshaw.substack.com/

vintagedeputy

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Registered:1557077382
Posts: 256

Posted 1716865943	Reply with quote #2

I collect baseball and sports ones. Attached Images IMG_7842.jpeg (344.81 KB, 5 views) IMG_7442.jpeg (268.48 KB, 6 views) IMG_9227.jpeg (606.15 KB, 7 views) IMG_9228.jpeg (703.62 KB, 6 views)

MorrellMan

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Posts: 1,537

Posted 1716914171	Reply with quote #3

I keep a small cache of them with my Mutoscopes binder and couldn't resist the Diz

toppcat

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Posts: 581

Posted 1716924698	Reply with quote #4

I collect Topps and related match covers: __________________ Dave Hornish Visit my vintage Topps blog at: http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/ Free Download of The Modern Hobby Guide to Topps Chewing Gum or softcover ordering details are here: http://themodernhobbyguide.blogspot.com/

boxingcardman

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Posts: 929

Posted 1716930197	Reply with quote #5

Here are a few of what I picked up: These are unfolded, unstapled, unused. I think they were probably production samples for approval from the merchants who ordered them: Some of the more colorful ones: __________________ God is not on our side because He hates idiots--The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly The demagogue is the public face of collective stupidity--Chris Hedges Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities--Voltaire Judge a man by how he treats someone who can do nothing for him--Nick Charles Looking for top quality cards at a discount. And something healthy that tastes like a bacon cheeseburger. https://adamstevenwarshaw.substack.com/

Jeff_O

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Posts: 201

Posted 1716949568	Reply with quote #6

boxingcardman

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Posts: 929

Posted 1716991503	Reply with quote #7

I don't know what "ammoniated" gum is, but I'm not eating it. Ever. __________________ God is not on our side because He hates idiots--The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly The demagogue is the public face of collective stupidity--Chris Hedges Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities--Voltaire Judge a man by how he treats someone who can do nothing for him--Nick Charles Looking for top quality cards at a discount. And something healthy that tastes like a bacon cheeseburger. https://adamstevenwarshaw.substack.com/

Jeff_O

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Posted 1717006847	Reply with quote #8

Some more Gum

boxingcardman

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Posted 1719445420 · Edited	Reply with quote #9

A few more. All but the last two are from salesman sample books: The last one there, La Golondrina, was one of the oldest continuously operating Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles until it was forced to close recently. I ate there several times. Damned good. Turns out there is a whole series of bandleaders issued by the Hollywood Palladium. Here's one: __________________ God is not on our side because He hates idiots--The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly The demagogue is the public face of collective stupidity--Chris Hedges Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities--Voltaire Judge a man by how he treats someone who can do nothing for him--Nick Charles Looking for top quality cards at a discount. And something healthy that tastes like a bacon cheeseburger. https://adamstevenwarshaw.substack.com/

toppcat

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Posts: 581

Posted 1719500448	Reply with quote #10

I have to think the oil & gas and beer related covers have some value. I have a very old guide to match covers that's of no help unfortunately but maybe this website has some helpful ideas: https://www.matchcover.org/ __________________ Dave Hornish Visit my vintage Topps blog at: http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/ Free Download of The Modern Hobby Guide to Topps Chewing Gum or softcover ordering details are here: http://themodernhobbyguide.blogspot.com/

boxingcardman

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Posts: 929

Posted 1719510746	Reply with quote #11

I guess we will find out: I am listing the first batch of them on eBay this weekend. Actually, I know they do from watching sales, or I'd not have purchased the collection to begin with. __________________ God is not on our side because He hates idiots--The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly The demagogue is the public face of collective stupidity--Chris Hedges Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities--Voltaire Judge a man by how he treats someone who can do nothing for him--Nick Charles Looking for top quality cards at a discount. And something healthy that tastes like a bacon cheeseburger. https://adamstevenwarshaw.substack.com/

KenBush

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Posts: 249

Posted 1719516260 · Edited	Reply with quote #12

These are all Sports. I have posted many others that are non sports in some old posts. Ken

monsterwax

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Posts: 298

Posted 1720045520	Reply with quote #13

As an old time radio fan, I'd like to get The Shadow matchbook sometime. __________________ a.k.a. KurtK

boxingcardman

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Posts: 929

Posted 1720049494	Reply with quote #14

More __________________ God is not on our side because He hates idiots--The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly The demagogue is the public face of collective stupidity--Chris Hedges Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities--Voltaire Judge a man by how he treats someone who can do nothing for him--Nick Charles Looking for top quality cards at a discount. And something healthy that tastes like a bacon cheeseburger. https://adamstevenwarshaw.substack.com/

Jeff_O

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Posts: 201

Posted 1720053772	Reply with quote #15

Some Soda

sthoemke

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Posts: 397

Posted 1720071613	Reply with quote #16

I don't really collect, but I have thousands of vintage matchbooks. Mostly local businesses, restaurants, and hotels/motels. Would be fun to display them in album pages.

jeffshep

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Posts: 128

Posted 1720455642	Reply with quote #17

Don't collect them but have an original 1930's Gum Inc. file photo of Match It Bubble Gum:

toppcat

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Posts: 581

Posted 1720456574 · Edited	Reply with quote #18

My latest, just in today: If you are unfamiliar, Rosen was Woody Gelman's step-father and a massive collector of match covers. Card Collectors Company started out as "Sam Rosen" in 1953 and then only changed over when Sam died on NYE 1958. He had covers made up each year for the Rathkamp Matchcover Society annual meets and this is the latest one I have. The earliest ones in my collection are from 1948 and I don't know if there are any before that but I have examples from every year from '48 through 1955 now. 1946 and 1947 would be possible subjects and of course 1957 and 1958 on the other end of things (1956 is known I just don't have one). __________________ Dave Hornish Visit my vintage Topps blog at: http://toppsarchives.blogspot.com/ Free Download of The Modern Hobby Guide to Topps Chewing Gum or softcover ordering details are here: http://themodernhobbyguide.blogspot.com/

elepaio

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Posts: 43

Posted 1720652582	Reply with quote #19

I collect bird cards and like several folks in this thread have acquired a pile of matchbook covers without being a collector of them. __________________ Mark Nikas

wdmullins

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Posts: 195

Posted 1720661667	Reply with quote #20

How do you ship matches? The post office doesn't like flammable stuff.

boxingcardman

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Posts: 929

Posted 1720732866	Reply with quote #21

If they are covers, it is just cardboard. If they have matches, they can be shipped--there is a hazmat box you check off and it requires ground shipping only. __________________ God is not on our side because He hates idiots--The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly The demagogue is the public face of collective stupidity--Chris Hedges Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities--Voltaire Judge a man by how he treats someone who can do nothing for him--Nick Charles Looking for top quality cards at a discount. And something healthy that tastes like a bacon cheeseburger. https://adamstevenwarshaw.substack.com/

wdmullins

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Posts: 195

Posted 1720821089	Reply with quote #22

How do you go about shipping books that still have matches in them? Just hope the post office doesn't notice?

non-sports daniel

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Posts: 974

Posted 1720824731	Reply with quote #23

Per Adam: If they have matches, they can be shipped--there is a hazmat box you check off and it requires ground shipping only.

JRhodes

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Posts: 545

Posted 1720838689 · Edited	Reply with quote #24

In the early '90s, I became aware of the "Don't talk chum ... chew Topps gum" matchbook via the Sport Americana "Price Guide to the Non-Sports Cards" and began to actively search for it whenever I saw matchbooks for sale at the various flea markets, antique stores and shows I attended regularly with my dad. I was probably around 14 at the time. I hit pay dirt at one show in the Baltimore area, where a dealer had an entire storage box filled to the brim with matchbooks. I asked if he had the Topps one, and he said he did! It was in the box, and I was welcome to search for it; maybe I'd even find some others I was interested in. So in I dug! After about a half hour, he must have been tired of me taking up space in his booth because he said something along the lines of, "Kid, I'll tell you what. I was going to ask $3 for the matchbook. How about you give me $5 and just take the whole box?" I took them home, sorted them, found the Topps matchbook (sans matches) and put it in a plastic page in my card binder, and then stored the rest in cookie tins in a box in my closet, the idea being that the books that still had matches in them were less likely to combust if stored in metal containers ... or something like that. It made my mom feel better about having them around, anyway. I still have them somewhere in my house today, in those same tins. Despite that accumulation, I've never considered myself a matchbook collector, per se, though I have picked up a few more Topps and other candy- and gum-related types sporadically over the years. In the past few years, I've also acquired a few inexpensive entertainment-related matchbooks that have caught my eye at shows or online. I keep them -- where else? -- in a cookie tin with a handful of cereal premiums, Happy Meal toys and other bric-a-brac on a shelf outside my home office. Clockwise from top left: Cinerama International, Republic Pictures, "Star Trek the Motion Picture," "Annie" and Harvey Comics. I missed out on an Archie Comics matchbook from the same seller as the Harvey that went for far more than I was willing to pay, which is to say anything above $10. Backs of the five matchbooks above. I bought the Republic Pictures type mostly for that great panoramic shot of the studio. All of these (except "Annie," which is blank) also have interesting material on the inside. Republic Pictures is the best. The dealer I bought this from said they issued them to promote a number of different films. Hey kids! When you're done playing with these matches, why not ask your parents for a Harvey Comics subscription? Some of these "Star Trek" posters actually sound pretty neat. And I love that the name of the company was "Strikin' It Rich Enterprises." Not that it's something I've ever thought too much about, but I never realized Cinerama was a global corporation. Too bad there are only three are left today (two in the U.S. and one in England).

boxingcardman

Senior Member
Registered:1513627830
Posts: 929

Posted 1721273719	Reply with quote #25

Some full books; I have a boatload of them for sale or trade. Attached Images IMG_1707.jpeg (398.00 KB, 2 views) IMG_1706.jpeg (626.42 KB, 2 views) IMG_1711.jpeg (407.77 KB, 1 views) IMG_1712.jpeg (302.63 KB, 2 views) IMG_1713.jpeg (213.41 KB, 2 views) __________________ God is not on our side because He hates idiots--The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly The demagogue is the public face of collective stupidity--Chris Hedges Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities--Voltaire Judge a man by how he treats someone who can do nothing for him--Nick Charles Looking for top quality cards at a discount. And something healthy that tastes like a bacon cheeseburger. https://adamstevenwarshaw.substack.com/

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