Collecting Matchcovers for Fun and Profit

If you’re looking for a fun hobby than can make you some profit too, why not try collecting matchcovers? They’re not as common as they used to be, but they’re still around, mainly in private collections. Matchcovers (aka “matchbooks”) were in their heyday about forty years ago. It was an inexpensive, yet effective, form of advertising. Everyone could always use a match to light a cigarette or cigar. More importantly, many people used matches to light their oil or kerosene lights, and fire up their wood-fueled cookstoves.

Not too many people thought of collective matchcovers for fun, much less profit, because you could pick them up for free at restaurants, banks, hotels, motels, and a host of other places. The list of the types of companies who advertised on matchcovers is practically endless. They included cigarette, cigar, and matchcover manufacturers, alcohol suppliers, gas stations, hotels, motels, railroads, soft drink distributors, radio celebrities, and many more.

In order to start collecting matchcovers for fun and profit, you’ll have to decide if you’re going to collect a certain category. That is, are you going to collect matchcovers from a certain region, time era, or from a certain establishment such as restaurants, for example. Or, you can always start an eclectic collection of matchcovers where you collect any type.

A good place to start collecting matchcovers is on the Internet. Auction sites such as eBayâÂ?¢, uBidâÂ?¢, Bidz.comâÂ?¢, and others often have either single covers, or collections of matchcovers, for sale. You’ll find matchcovers for the Pennsylvania, Chesapeake & Ohio railroads, matchcovers that encourage you to elect political candidates, matchcovers that have Corvettes and other makes of cars displayed on them, ones with movie film stars, and much more.

You can also search on the Internet to find matchcover clubs. By joining these clubs, you can meet other collectors, swap matchcovers, and find meeting places and events that are geared towards other people like yourself who are collecting matchcovers for fun and profit.

You can also watch local newspaper ads for yard sales, estate sales, garage sales, and other markets where you can possibly find some matchcovers for your collecting fun. Once you get a few matchcovers, you can decide how you’re going to organize, preserve, and keep track of your new collection. You’ll need to store your matchcovers in a cool, dry place.

To find out the value of your matchcovers, and make sure you make the most profit when you sell or swap them, you can pick up a copy of ‘The Matchcover Collector’s Price Guide, 2nd Edition’ published by Antique Trader Books in 2003. It was written by Bill Retskin, a leading authority on collecting matchbooks for fun and profit.