Here’s some interest tidbits I found on the collector sites: The birth of collecting was sparked by the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933 and advanced by the New York World’s Fair six years later, both of which featured matchbooks. And it is, with its own clubs – the oldest, Rathkamp Matchcover Society, going back to 1940. This collector had meticulously kept his or her matchbooks tucked in special plastic sleeves, indicating that this was a serious hobby. Two pages of matchbook covers in their plastic sleeves. No one makes DeSoto cars anymore (the last was made in 1961) or shop for food as my family once did at the Food Fair grocery chain.
The matchbooks at auction had the look of history: the designs were dated, and the places they advertised likely were shuttered decades ago.
I never took a matchbook from a place I wanted to forget. I chose matchbooks according to my likes and dislikes. Matchbooks are like a peephole into our individual lives, reminding us of where we’ve been and gossiping to others about what we did while we were there. They told of cities visited (Atlantic City, Carson City, NV), foods eaten (steak, Tastykake), restaurants frequented (Stouffer’s, Little Johnny’s Supper Club), cigarettes smoked (Salem, Newport) and bodies buried (John J. That’s what I found recently on the auction table – a binder of matchbooks in plastic sleeves, page after page of them. A handful of matchbook covers sold at auction, nicely tucked in plastic in a binder. I never thought of my hoard as a collection, but apparently a lot of people do more than just take a few home as souvenirs. That jar of covers disappeared years ago, although I do keep at least one pack with my stash of candles and flashlights for emergency blackouts in my neighborhood. I didn’t smoke but I “collected” them anyway, putting them away in a jar just in case I needed to strike a match.
There was a time when I’d pick up a matchbook or two or three from the counter at every restaurant, night club or café I’d go to.
Matchbook collectibles how to#
Please read my blog post about how to determine what you have and the market value. I get a lot of requests from readers about the value of their matchbook covers.
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