Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana Collectible of the Month - Vintage Matchcovers

This Months Collectible of the Month is Vintage Matchcovers.

Someone has to be able to "match" this! Where's Erik, our Pep Boys Collector?



I have a few more service station match covers. Let's see what you've got!!!

Shot with HP pstc3100 at 2008-01-14

Some Michigan brands
Mid-West Refineries, Leonard Dubbs & Leonard Flag logos, Speedway 79, McClanahan Refineries.

Shot at 2008-01-14


Shot at 2008-01-14

Some more Michigan brands, Bay (Div of Dow Chemical) Drake's Refinery Stations, Wayco supplied by Paragon, and White Star.

Linco Oil
Chuck

Early Ohio Oil


[This message has been edited by Gaspedler (edited 01-14-2008).]

Starvin' Marvin -Globe (Before Marathon bought Globe)

1950's Marathon.

Thanks for gettin me started guys. i was havin a few camera problems. Everything is fixed though and keep em coming!!

Here is a few from my gas and oil collection....

Shot with HP pstc3100 at 2008-01-14

I started collecting matchbook covers about 10 yrs ago, around age 8. My dad helped get me into them. He would pick me up a few here and there at various swap meets hoping I would like them. Well 10 yrs, 700 matchbooks later I still like them. The best part of collecting matchbook covers, they are CHEAP. When I first started everyone would give them to me. Walking around swap meets vendors would just give them to me. Of course now I have graduated to buying them. Anybody in this the hobby with a young kid should start them on collecting matchbooks. I’ve been hooked for 10 yrs and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. They have kept me interested in the hobby and occupied at swap meets (at a young age). Along with looking for stuff for my dad at swap meets, I look for matchbooks.

In most of my pictures the matchbooks still have the striker attached. The striker adds value to them. Years ago, it was part of the hobby to cut the strikers off. However, sometimes you have no choice. Sometimes the cover is just too cool to pass up, despite being a “bobtail” as it is known within the hobby. Sometimes you can still find a cover with the matches still stapled in it. My personal rule for removing the matches is: I will only remove the matches if someone has already used some of the matches. If all 10, 20, 30 or 40 matches (depending on the size) are intact, then I leave them alone. I have a showcase in our garage where I display the full books.

The matchbook collecting hobby and the gas and oil hobby are so completely different. There are matchbooks that advertise anything from gas, oil or cars to soda, candy bars, machine shops, and clothes. Also as I mentioned before there are 5 basic sizes : 10 strike, 20 strike, 30 strike, 40 strike and Jumbo. All of the ones I have pictured are 20 strike.
And of course I am always looking for neat Automobile related matchbooks.

If you have any you are interested in selling let me know!! Thanks

Thanks for the info on matchbook collecting. I wasn't sure whether I should take the matches out or leave them in, but I like your suggestion of keeping the full ones and emptying the partial ones. I started collecting covers related to my area as an historical reference. In the process I ended up with some gas and oil from other areas and only kept them because I collect Petroliana. I would gladly swap you (or anyone else) any or all of the ones I have that are not local for any from my area which includes the towns of Los Olivos, Santa Ynez, Solvang, Ballard, Buellton, Los Alamos or Las Cruces, California (not New Mexico on those last two).

I have a jar full of a variety of othr matchbooks that I will gladly send you for hosting this COTM if you will cover the shipping (and if you want them).

Here are some more of mine...

These are my favorites. Early Gas station scenes...

Car parts and Accessories

This is about all that I have in the way of matchbooks....

This one is for you Thunder!

Thats my brother Curt for you! Thanks Curt...

A few from the collection of my dad!

a few more!

even more!

Being a Pure collector, he has a lot of these!

and lastly, a couple of my favorites. Notice that the matches are actually gas pumps!



[This message has been edited by mapper (edited 01-16-2008).]

Nice Pure matchbooks. About the Rocket--was that from the west coast chain, or the Wisconsin chain?
Here's part of my meager collection.

I'm guessing it was the Wisconsin chain. I only say that because we bought it at the Columbus show from a guy who had a huge box of NOS matchbooks. Unfortunately, there isn't any other indication which chain it is. I hadn't realized that there was a Wisconsin chain of Rocket stations...great name!

Alan

JUST A FEW FROM MY VAST COLLECTION ....CJ

(BACK OF ABOVE COVERS)

Here is some hy-flash ones.

randy

Shot with HP pstc3100 at 2008-01-17

4 books

RARE SAV'N SAM'S Gasoline

BACK OF SAV"N SAM"S

Shot with HP pstc3100 at 2008-01-20


Shot with HP pstc3100 at 2008-01-20

Webster & Garner is the oldest Sunoco Distributor in the Sun Mid-America system still in business,although they did get a new phone number.

Here are some Frontier matchbooks.

The other side of all these covers look like this.

Some more.

Great Covers- 10 years seems to go by too quick- Most of us seasoned east coast guys will remember this little kid running around at early Mason Dixon shows- helping everyone unload stuff and later pack up- asking "Hey Mister- got any Match books?" great to see He is still at it- we need more of the young guys getting it to the hobby- thanks for great topic- don

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Wanted 5 quart cans

[This message has been edited by Jack R (edited 02-06-2008).]

whoops wrong place must be the snow

[This message has been edited by oldnfuelish (edited 02-06-2008).]