7/30/2023 0 Comments Matchbook collectibles![]() Where were you when you got it? Who were you with? I bet you can tell me everything – and I bet that memory will make you smile.Īnd that, my dear friends, is why matchbooks are my muse the ultimate ode to memory, Alzheimer’s, and art. Contemporary design and imagery on each cover makes them exciting, but the history behind the matchbook in your hand is why I think they are so special. ![]() I am not a collector, but I do have this collection that. Some matchbook collectors press and preserve the books to be sold, but more frequently, matchbooks are collected to be displayed and seen (I definitely fall into this category). I have a large collection of matchbook covers dating back to the late 1920s. Of course with the scarcity of matchbooks going up, they’ve become even more fun to find in restaurants today – and even more collectable with the introduction of contemporary graphic design and artwork in their production. As the need for matchbooks went down with smoking bans, the manufacturing prices went up – leaving many remaining restaurants to label them as nonessential expenses. So why the hospitality industry? Even with the widespread decline in smoking and subsequent bans on smoking indoors by the ’90’s, restaurants and hotels continued to utilize matchbooks out of a long-standing tradition (Tradition quite possibly being linked to – restaurants and hotels always have bars. They have become a souvenir and a tradition – all while subtly (but constantly) keeping that company top of mind. These companies view matchbooks as useful, collectible objects, that tug at your heartstrings by evoking the kind of nostalgia that stops you from discarding it. As a non-smoker, I am exposed to matchbooks and their logos every time I go to light a candle (which is often), or sit near the coffee table where they are displayed in a large bowl (so, every time I am in my living room….which is every day). ![]() ![]() A customer who takes a matchbook will be exposed as many times as they use it – between 20-40 times based on the number of matches in each book. When thinking about cost-effective advertising, matchbooks take the lead over business cards by virtue of exposure. While Baseball teams and airlines had phased out matchbook advertising for the association with smoking, restaurants and hotels (and later home brands) continued to see the value in them. ![]()
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