I’ve had matchbooks before. Who hasn’t? Pretty sure I can find some around here if I look. I’d never thought of them as a collectible until recently. Reading through threads on net54baseball.com, I became knowledgeable of their existence.
I was searching eBay one evening for Joe Stydahar. He is enshrined in both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was the first member of the Pro Hall of Fame that was drafted. I obviously never saw him play, as he died two years before I was born, but he played at my alma mater, so I was just browsing for something.
My preference is to collect items of former Mountaineers in their college uniforms. With the older players, this isn’t always possible and sometimes I take what I can get. I found a matchbook cover at what I thought was a low price but after research, discovered it was about par for the course. I made an offer a couple of dollars below the asking price but when I got no reply either way, I went ahead and just purchased at the asking price. Soon thereafter, I had my first matchbook piece in my collection.
The seller’s eBay ID (matchcovers) pretty much describes their business. If you’re interested to check out their items, you can find them here. They included a couple of other pieces and as you can see, they don’t have only sports items.
I definitely felt that it was a nice touch to add them in. I pay more attention to politics than the average person so I also am a big fan of the “Bush for President” piece. Trying to get more into vintage, I am learning that I will need to expand my horizons past just cards. I’m quite happy with my start.
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