Traute realized that if his matchbooks should be given away, and they could be used to sell other products. Smartly, Traute had the friction strip moved to the outside of the matchbook and added the words “Close Cover Before Striking” to the cover. The public wasn’t buying them because those first matchbooks were quite dangerous the friction strip was located inside the cover, right next to the rest of the matches. Despite the advertisements, matchbook companies expected people to purchase their products. Tobacco maker Bull Durham quickly followed with an order for 30 million matchbooks. The Diamond Match Company promptly purchased Pusey’s patent for $4000, and in 1894, a company salesman, Henry Traute, received his first order for 10 million matchbooks with ads for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer on their covers. Joshua Pusey (1842 – 1906) patented paper matches, whose tips were dipped in a solution of sulphur and phosphorus and then attached to a piece of cardboard. I really hope you take another look at those matches and consider keeping them.Matchbooks have been around since the late 19th century. Unless the matchbook is from a place with some historical significance like the World Trade Center or the last place Jimmy Hoffa was seen alive (my personal favorite) the business being extinct adds no value. If it was just your families favorite dinner spot that closed down in the 80's no one cares. If someone near you offers 25-50 bucks take it, but make them promise not to burn them first!īut this place doesn't exist anymore! Yea the vast majority of businesses that gave out matches do not exist anymore. I get my matchbooks through trading and buying small collections like this on ebay (for a reasonable amount of course). While the guy selling individual covers is getting a few dollars a cover I cant imagine someone making all those listings and trips to the post office without it becoming a full time job. I myself have bought a few of these individual covers knowing I am paying well over what they are worth just so I can have a specific match cover from a place that holds sentimental value or to quickly fill a hole to complete a collection. However there are some people on ebay who make a tidy profit selling individual (flattened) covers on ebay for 1-2 dollars a piece. They will repost the same listings for months or even years without any sale. You can look on ebay all day and see people asking for huge sums for similar collections. Besides some very old very specific covers most are worth 10-75 cents. Value You will not get rich selling matchbooks. I personally collect books from any decade, I am more into the designs and a new cover is just as cool to me as a super old one. The practice of using matchbooks as a form of advertising has been dead for awhile now so most of the matchbooks out there are going to be from 20+ years ago and are not considered exceptionally old. Do not strike any of the matches on the striker strip on the covers, doing so renders the cover "less than mint condition" and please do not cut the strike strip off the bottom, this is called a "bobtail" and they are considered worthless at that point.Īge When it comes to matchbooks most collectors consider "old" to mean WWII era and earlier. Almost all collectors flatten their books like this for display, storage, and safety reasons. Leave them in the vice for a few days and they come out nice and flat, perfect for putting into clear pages in a binder or for trading with other collectors. Place pieces of wood on the jaws of the vice to protect the covers on the top and bottom of the stack. Put the covers in to stacks of roughly 50 covers and flatten them in a vice. CAREFULLY remove the staple making sure to not gouge the paper and dispose of the matchsticks (you can burn these if you like). Please do not burn them! If matches are not your thing there are plenty of collectors(myself included) out there who would love to take on this collection.Ĭollect them If you decide to keep them as a hobby here is what you want to do. Woah there step away from the matches! Lets not make any rash decisions.
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