The first matches were produced by an English chemist named John Walker in the early 1800s. While conducting experiments with a flammable liquid some of the mixture dropped on the floor and flared up. From this he discovered the process of making matches. His matches were boxed and placed on sale in 1827.
The first match books were made by Joshua Pusey of Philadelphia in 1889. The earliest know commercial advertising appeared in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Through out the early 1900s colorful match boxes and match books were made containing all sorts of beautiful art work and by the 1930s they were widely collected. In the 1940s and 1950s smoking was very popular and millions and millions of match books were manufactured and hotels, nightclubs and restaurants made match books available to their customers. Even today match books are a popular form of advertising from these same retail establishments.
Collectors usually remove the matches from matchbooks and display their collection of matchcovers in albums. Because of the large number of different match book covers available to collectors, some prefer to specialize by type. Others prefer to collect match books from the places they visited. Hotels and restaurants are the most popular by far. However collections of night clubs, bars, railroad lines, airlines, ships, banks, sports, world fairs and political are very popular. I like collecting old matchcovers from my home town.
Matchcovers can be classified by size such as 20-strike matchbooks which have 20 matchsticks per book. Larger 30 and 40 strike matchbooks are called billboards. The most popular matchbooks are odd shapes and early matchbooks that are printed not only on the cover but also on the matchsticks.
Matchcover collecting is a fun and inexpensive hobby. Once you start, make a habit of picking up one or two matchbooks from every place you visit. As you become obsessed with this fascinating hobby you may want to purchase matchbooks at garage sales, flea markets and antique stores. One of the best places to find match books both new and old is eBay. At eBay you can find one matchbook that may interest you or large lots that can sort through.
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