United Eastern Swapfest 2019

This years United Eastern Swapfest was fun as always and I managed to bring home some great stuff to add to my collection. A fine time was spent with lots of match covers and plenty of old friends.

I've never seen this bizarre Lucky Lager beaver mascot before and can't find anything online about him. Maybe it's because his acorns are dragging around like bowling balls.

I love these matchbook gags like this. Found as it was on the freebie table, but going in my matchbook art collection.

Lots of butts.

Denis bought this fantastic lil Petro matchbox.

A gorgeous Diamond Quality in one of the albums up for auction.

A gorgeous Federal cover in one of the albums up for auction.

A fantastic Dine & Dance stock image from an older Bell Machine Co. match cover I got.

RAAAMMMMBOOO, the Force of Real Estate.

These group snapshots are always so fun. Great friends, Me, Randy, Rich, Denise, and Bill.

One of my favorite categories is military insignias. 

I really wanted this Public Ledger newspaper cover, but the album sold for a high price at the auction.

You're not gonna find these at the Wal Mart...

I kept this cover for Sugar N Spice because I'm pretty sure those drawings are from the Schlesigner or Fleischer studios, who made the early cartoons.

Denise McKinney and I ready to get serious in the auction.

Over the last few years Bill Calhoun  had put these giant glass pigs full of covers in the auction and even though I wanted one, could never afford the prices they were fetching. This year I got one for $10.

Me, Denise, and Pizza Charlie at Waffle House.

Volkswagen Matchbook Covers

A few of the many Volkswagen matchbook covers I found at the 79th RMS convention in Cleveland.

A fantastic early Volkswagen Jetta matchbook cover from South Africa.

Now go to your Volkswagen van and get your shinebox...A traveling shoeshine parlor in a Volkswagen bus . 

The 79th RMS Convention Continued

Here are some of my favorite cool, ridiculous, and just plain weird matchcovers I found at the 79th RMS Convention:

Who knows what this fictitious Delta Queen sternwheeler has to do with frankfurters, but it's a fantastic and quirky design.

I love the instantly recognizable Brillo soap pads logo on this South African matchcover.

Richard Greene came across these Spitfire Wheels matchcovers. Very cool.

The Royal Order of Jesters was once called the Wheeling Court 13 and is a recreation, sports, or social club based in Triadelphia, WV that was founded in 1941. I'm sure the reasoning behind choosing this atomic farting pinhead primate as the face of their club has been lost to history.

The 79th RMS Convention

The 79th RMS Convention was held in Strongsville, Ohio this year, right outside Cleveland. As is usual, I found lots of great stuff for my collection. Let's start with...

Bimbo's 365 Club is alive and well in San Francisco as a music venue. They still have the original sign, too. 

I don't know who the girls are, we'll call them the Sheraton sisters, but the photographer was Murray Korman, (March 16, 1902 – August 10, 1961) was an American publicity photographer. He made his reputation in New York City as a "Hollywood style high key high gloss glamour"[1] photographer whose clients ranged from showgirls to famous entertainers to members of "cafe society". Unlike other major theatrical portraitists of the time, he created his images in the camera, rather than manipulating them later at the printing stage.[1] During the height of his fame, he was considered "the expert on beauty in his time".

Miriam Battista at approximately age 20, photographed by Murray Korman.

One of my favorite covers, this 606 Club cleverly uses just three colors to create a fantastic design.