Update:
Seems to me that such a collection is limitless, especially when smoking used to be allowed in restaurants. If a big hotel in Vegas goes out of business, is there a sudden demand for their old matchbooks?
Seems to me that such a collection is limitless, especially when smoking used to be allowed in restaurants. If a big hotel in Vegas goes out of business, is there a sudden demand for their old matchbooks?
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I have an old matchbook collection. I collected them years ago for memorabilia and also the art value. Most of the places are out of business or have old logos but they make a great piece of nostalgia artwork in a frame.
I don’t agree w you
Collecting matchbooks was popular when I was a kid (I'm 74, if it matters) . I doubt that become valuable, but some of the famous restaurants and clubs that no longer exist might be. The point was it was a fun way to remember an occasion.
What's the point of collecting anything? People have liked to collect things almost as long as there have been people with the means to do it.
Matchbook collecting was once a very popular thing to collect. Smoking was widespread and so were matches in book form. They were so inexpensive to have made that practically any business could afford to have boxes of them made with their name on them for customers to help themselves to.
They came in a whole variety of designs, from the really cheap and simple to the very colorful and elaborate. And they cam from anywhere you could go in the world. Collectors probably started off as a way of showing off to friends all the places they had traveled to, and like the practice once was for may collectible items. extras were traded with other collectors.
Like with anything, there's the common with little to no value and there's the rare and desirable that inspire bidding wars among collectors. I collect sports but over the years I have developed what I like to think is a good eye for things, like all good 'pickers', and I will buy things when I believe they are undervalued and have good potential for resale. Many years ago I picked up a small collection of maybe 300 books, all in a binder and all with matches and strikers intact - which is the highest condition level. Many you see are just the cover; the matches used up and the striker long gone. I've just had it put away. While the market is tiny compared with its peak maybe 50 years ago, there's still a market. Last year, in one of the sports auctions I scour for hidden gems, there was a vintage collection of almost 2,000 books, all from Japan, pre World War II. It was an incredible and colorful variety. Opening bid was $200, I think, which I saw as a bargain. I thought that even at $500, I could make a decent profit for the time and work involved in breaking it up, though the collector part of me hates breaking up what someone spent so much passion on putting together. Well, it sold for very nearly a dollar a book. That told me there were probably some rare and valuable pieces in there. I just wasn't knowledgable enough about them to see it. Someone was, though.
I used to collect hockey pucks. I had over 200 from different teams all over the world.
There are some people who are willing to pay money for rare examples of all kinds of objects. I imagine even matchbooks could gain some value, if they're rare or from some hotel/restaurant that no longer exists.
Yes, I have one from restaurants all over the world. It's not expected to have any value. They're just interesting places and/or designs.
L.....................
People might potentially collect anything.
Matchbooks would probably be one of the less expensive things to collect.
But consider that since smoking is no longer allowed in most restaurants any intact matchbooks around would be older and thus less common.
My late husband collected old cameras. It seems that they are worth almost nothing. But they will be sold at auction and someone who's interested will get a deal.