Interesting Matchcovers: April 2013

I picked up about 1500 matchcovers this weekend and looked through them. Here's a sample of some of the interesting covers I found:

I found quite a few of these, called Miown Decorative Matchpacks. I don't know much about them except they were made by Colgate Studios and they say Diamond Quality on back. The patent date on the bottom says 3 - 31 - 1926. 

I almost tossed this one into a box for the MARVA freebie tables, then picked it back up. I hadn't noticed that it was Big Boy cover. It's the only Big Boy cover I've seen without the big boy character. Manner's Big Boy I believe was popular in Cleveland and Cincinatti, Ohio.

Men's clothing is one of my favorite categories to collect. From left to right: An unstruck Dubbleware Union Made Work Clothes cover. An unstruck cover for Long's Men's Shop in Massachusetts advertising TexTan belts and billfolds. This is a company I hadn't heard of and I think the first cover I've seen to advertise specifically for belts and billfods. Last, a struck and worn Stetson Hats cover from Philadelphia. It has a nice illustration of some cowboys and will fit nicely in my collection.

The first cover in this group is an ad for Conti Liquid Shave. It's an older Lion Match cover and is longer than normal. Of interest is the manumark which reads: U.S. Pat. No. 1,735,258. Patented in Canada 1929 -- The first part of an older Lion Match Co. manumark. The second line reads: Lion Match Co., N.Y. Made in U.S.A. An earlier version of the second line reads: Lion Match Co. New York.(from http://www.matchcovers.com/glossary_U.htm ) Next up is a Burma-Shave cover. It advertises its namesake brand shaving cream and Burma-Shave brand razor blades. The first Burma-Shave cover I've ever seen. It's struck but in decent shape otherwise. Last we have a RET cover. RET was a product used to clean dentures and removable bridges, much like modern Polident.

You don't find these much anymore, so even though it's rather plain and beat up, I'll add this to my collection of King Midas Match Co covers.

I have kept a few fur related covers in my collection based on typography and color, but I generally don't keep them as I don't believe in furs and particularly the fur industry. However, this 1955 cover for Samuel Rifkin Furs caught my eye. These matchbooks came with a small swatch of fur, possibly mink, stapled on them.

Here are two movie theatre covers, both struck and a little worn, but interesting nonetheless. The first is an ad for State Theatre, no address or state given. The second and more interesting one is an older Lion Match cover from New York City's Yiddish Art Theatre and advertises a film called Brother Ashkenzi. Read more on the movie here. I'm guessing this cover is from the late 1930's as the book the movie was made from came out in 1936.

Here's a great, unstruck, Diamond Match cover advertising R.C. Allen Figuring Machines, based in San Francisco. Figuring machines made by this company included adding machines, cash registers and calculators. Next is an ad for Utilite, the 30 minute utility light. We've all seen the newer, blue cover advertising these on the freebie tables. This one is much older and probably won't be found on the freebie tables. I'm not sure of the age, but it's an older Universal cover. Notice how much longer it is than the Diamond next to it.

First up is a nice WWII era cover for Foreman Phillips' County Barn Dance which hosted the "nation's greatest western dance bands". According to a 1989 article from The Daily Breeze about the establishment "Swing-shift workers during World War II often gathered all night on the Venice pier." I bet they did, too. The cover states that you can "dance all nite Saturday 8:30 PM till dawn". I'd bet money that Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys played there. The second cover, a WWII era cover for the Rialto Ballroom in New York City is struck, but is still quite nice. The Rialto claimed 3 orchestras, continuous dancing and a victory bar. I can't even imagine what a Saturday night in either of these two places could have been like.