Collecting Matchbooks
The other day as I was talking about buying/selling violins with a friend, he also mentioned that he knows of someone who buys and sells matchbooks on ebay and makes a five-figure (side job) income each year. Crazy.
Throughout my travel and dining life I’ve always been one to pick up the complementary matchbooks as small souvenirs (I also do this with golf course pencils, but that’s a different story). I’ve done it more for my own memories (and stories to share while lighting a cigar), but that discussion and this recent New York Times piece on the resurgence of restaurant matches (even in the light of all these smoking bans) has me on the lookout for new matchbooks.
Some of my personal favorites out of my collection are from Africa, Holland, and Spain. I also have a thing for the different color match-tips and odd shaped boxes, although I don’t have any that aren’t a rectangle. My most recent favorite is a “book” that is is just like a cigarette hardcase from Root Down in Denver.
Tags: collections