Anyone collect 1934-36 Diamond Matchbooks?

[Vintagedeputy]

Here I was thinking that I was the only one that collected these! I’m not actively chasing them, but I gladly buy them when I find them in the wild.

Here’s the few that I’ve found so far.

[UKCardGuy]

Originally Posted by Vintagedeputy

Here I was thinking that I was the only one that collected these! I’m not actively chasing them, but I gladly buy them when I find them in the wild.

Here’s the few that I’ve found so far.

+1

I really like your Lon Warneke. Seems to be in nice condition. I found my way to the matchbooks when I noticed a listing for a Stanley Hack Matchbook on Ebay in UK in 2020. It not often that I find something like that in the UK and it was going cheap. I'd never seen or heard of them before but it was just too interesting to pass up.

I found out about them and started to slowly build my collection. I now have 65 of them. I really enjoy them. Maybe one day they'll become a hot item, but for now I enjoy the fact that I can picked them up pretty cheap.

[JustinD]

No idea how many I have, probably somewhere between 15-20 in the piles of stuff. A some baseball, mostly football.

I started picking them up specifically because of the Portsmouth Spartans and the affordability at the time. I collect all Detroit sports and am a glutton for punishment enough to be a Lions fan.

[Vintagedeputy]

Originally Posted by UKCardGuy

+1

I really like your Lon Warneke. Seems to be in nice condition. I found my way to the matchbooks when I noticed a listing for a Stanley Hack Matchbook on Ebay in UK in 2020. It not often that I find something like that in the UK and it was going cheap. I'd never seen or heard of them before but it was just too interesting to pass up.

I found out about them and started to slowly build my collection. I now have 65 of them. I really enjoy them. Maybe one day they'll become a hot item, but for now I enjoy the fact that I can picked them up pretty cheap.

Thanks! The Warneke, Davis and Hartnett were found locally (along with a T205 McGraw) during an old house demolition by a building contractor.

The others I have been finding here and there. I missed out on a football one recently but I'd collect those too if I could find them.

[obiwan1129]

Originally Posted by UKCardGuy

+1

I found out about them and started to slowly build my collection. I now have 65 of them. I really enjoy them. Maybe one day they'll become a hot item, but for now I enjoy the fact that I can picked them up pretty cheap.

Not too hot...

I've looked at these too and wondered how easy to find they were. My kids wouldn't really know what to do with a match book I don't think. Course they rarely see anyone even smoking...big change from the old days.

[nebboy]

Trying to keep thread going as long as possible.

Newest pickup is (2) black boarder, matches full, Casey Stengel books in nice condition.

[UKCardGuy]

That Stengel is very nice, esp with the matches intact.

I won this Mel Ott last week. Just waiting on delivery.

[Exhibitman]

A few more:

[Vintagedeputy]

Originally Posted by nebboy

Trying to keep thread going as long as possible.

Newest pickup is (2) black boarder, matches full, Casey Stengel books in nice condition.

Wow! Those are great!

[pbspelly]

I have a few of these in different colors, and one that I got graded, but don't have any with actual matches in them

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

I only have one, which is funny considering I have over half a million matchbook covers. Always thought about collecting these but never got around to it. I won't be doing so now, as my interest in matchcovers waned nearly 30 years ago.

The one I have means a lot to me, as it was given to me directly from the player who appeared on it. Ray Berres and his wife were dear friends. He kept a cookie tin half filled with his matchbook for over 70 years. They just sat on a shelf and were never touched, so the one he gave me is in pristine shape; the staple never even rusted. Full book. My only wish is that I had asked him to sign it. He would have gladly done so, but I knew his arthritis would give him trouble trying to sign something so small and oddly shaped.

[chadeast]

FYI, I noticed 100+ of these listed in lots of 2 to 5 over at Kevin Savage being auctioned today and remembered this thread.

https://www.kevinsavagecards.com/default.aspx

[UKCardGuy]

Thanks Chad. So it was you're post that drove the bids up at that auction.

It was actually nice to see so many lots listed. That was actually the 3rd auction where they had a sizable number of Diamond MBs recently. I managed to pick up a couple of the lots but some of the prices went higher than I thought was fair value.

[KMayUSA6060]

I picked up my first matchbook - a Dizzy Dean - at the Strongsville show a couple weeks ago. Hard to beat the price compared to Dean's other cards, and the image matches some of his most popular cards (like Honus Wagner's Colgan's Chips portrait image). As my Hall of Fame project has evolved, I've really honed in on the idea of showcasing just how popular baseball was, and how it was marketed using just about anything and everything under the sun. Very happy I dipped my toes in the matchbook water. May end up adding one or two more. Great thread, too.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by UKCardGuy

It was actually nice to see so many lots listed. That was actually the 3rd auction where they had a sizable number of Diamond MBs recently. I managed to pick up a couple of the lots but some of the prices went higher than I thought was fair value.

I'm sure there will be more as well. They picked up a huge (almost complete?) collection of these with (almost all?) of the text, text color, and border color variations.

[Vintagedeputy]

New arrival today!

[commishbob]

No baseball in my collection but I have some New York Rangers.