Posted By:
Jodi BirkholmFunny there should be a couple of posts about matchcovers. I collected matchcovers of all kinds for many years, eventually amassing half a million of them! Matchcovers, even vintage ones, are fairly cheap, aside from a select rare few. The Diamond Match Co. baseball/football/hoceky issues of the early 1930's are actively collected. Covers with the strikers struck (even lightly) are considered to be that hobby's equivalent of a "PSA 1/SGC 10", although I never minded them as much as other collectors did. Also, covers with the strikers cut off (matchcover lingo ---> "bobtailed") have no collector value. It's actually a pretty fun hobby which reached its peak in the 1940's-50's and has tailed off since then. The largest club, RMS, boasts over 4000 active members, and there are lots of local/specialty groups of enthusiasts. It was a great hobby for me in that I learned a heck of a lot about regionalized business history. Another nice feature is that trading is still emphasized over selling (mostly on a "one-for-one" basis). I lost my interest over ten years ago, but still retain one of the largest collections ever assembled. That being said, anyone out there want 500,000 matchcovers?!?!?!