- Matchcover collecting
is a hobby that is some 100 years old. The matchbook was invented
in 1892, but, although there were certainly label collectors
far earlier, there's no record of serious matchcover collectors
until the early 1930's. And, the first club devoted solely to
matchcovers didn't appear until 1941. This gap between 1892 and,
say, 1930, is explained by the fact that the matchbook didn't
even begin to be a common, everyday item in the United States
until the late 1930's. By the early 1930s', then, collectors
of matchcovers began making themselves known, and, by 1940, some
had become tired of being in collectibles clubs wherein they
were lumped together with collectors of other, unrelated items.
Thus, they officially started the Rathkamp Matchcover Society
(RMS) in 1941.
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- Over the ensuing years,
other clubs appeared across the country and in Canada, with the
result being that RMS became the national hobby organization
with a loose confederation of these 'regional' and specialty
clubs nominally underneath it, but RMS has no regulatory powers
with respect to the regional clubs. How exactly that all came
to be, no one seems to know, but it certainly has to do with
RMS being the first on the scene. I've researched this hobby
more than anyone, and I've never seen anything that addresses
this question. The regional and specialty clubs all recognize
the status of RMS, but all the clubs are completely autonomous.
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- There are currently some
20 regional and 10 specialty clubs here in the US and Canada
(18 of the regional clubs are in the US and 2 are in Canada)
(The 10 specialty clubs are devoted to a particular type of cover
or box). Geographically, 17 of the 18 regional US clubs are on
the periphy of the country. Only one is in the interior. That
corresponds to the fact that, as of this writing, only 13% of
US collectors are in the interior. The other 87% are in located
in the peripheral states. And that, in turn, corresponds with
the larger metropoloitan areas being situated in those same peripheral
states.
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- Interstingly, although
the majority of collectors are east of the Mississippi (because
that's where the bulk of the American population still is), California
has the most collectors...and the most clubs (5, previously;
3 as of this writing).
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- As with any hobby, this
one, Phillumeny, has waxed and waned in numbers over the years,
and it has its own quirks and peculiarities when it comes to
the people who inhabit it. For one thing, this is a hobby devoid
of children. That may well be partly due to the nature of what's
being collected here, but a more important factor is the changing
times. Most veteran collectors started in this hobby as a result
of picking up matchbooks as souvenirs while either traveling
themselves or with their familes. That doesn't happen any more,
since matchbooks are much less readily available now. Also, of
course, the allure of modern technology (cell phones, gaming,
texting, etc.) tends to overshowdow all else as far as youth
is concerned. And, of course, this is a hobby that demands patience
and organization...two qualities not particularly attributed
to young people.
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- Unlike hobbies dealing
with coins, stamps, post cards, and the like, this hobby is not
worldwide. Technically, Phillumeny encompasses the collecting
of matchboxes, matchbox labels, and/or matchcovers. Given that
definition, phillumeny is enjoyed around the world. However,
because the matchbox was invented in Europe while the matchbook
was invented in the United States, phillumeny has evolved into
two distinct camps: most of the New World focuses on matchcovers,
and the Old World focuses on boxes and labels. But, in actual
fact, only the US and Canada have matchcover clubs at all, so
what it boils down to is that the US and Canada represent the
matchcover collecting world, and everyone else is primarily into
boxes and labels. (although, it should be noted that Australia
has had matchcover clubs)
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- As for the collector,
himself, the 'average' collector (based on membership stats and
surveys taken a number of years ago) is a Caucasian male, 62
years old, who belongs to several different matchcover clubs,
has been collecting 18 years, and counts some 66,823 covers in
his collection. Men, in fact, outnumber women in this hobby 3:1.
That's been the subject of discussion for any number of years.
Is it because, traditionally, smoking was basically a male activity?
Probably... although most collectors don't smoke.
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- If one counts all the
people who have traditionally accumulated matchbooks in
coffee table bowls and such as collectors, it's been said that
this is actually the second largest collectible hobby in the
country, traditionally right after stamp collecting (Interestingly,
the largest actual hobby overall is gardening). But, of course,
such accumulations, do no qualify as 'collecting'. The actual
number of matchcover collectors has always been small.
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- After the inception of
RMS, the number of collectors in the hobby increased over the
years, albeit not steadily: 216 were enrolled in RMS in 1948,
for example (although that's only RMS); 800 in 1960. Then a decline
began, reaching a low of 697 in 1969. But then things took off.
Overall, the hobby, itself, reached an all-time high of some
4,000 known collectors (not just in RMS) by the mid-1980s. Things
were looking good!
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- Then disaster struck!
- Disposable lighters, anti-smoking campaigns, and the domestic
match manufacturing industry, itself, collapsing in the face
of declining sales and increasing foreign competition. As the
easy availability of matchbooks declined, collectors left in
droves! But, from my persepective, those people weren't serious
collectors in the first place. This hobby has always had a very
large 'transiency' rate - people coming into the hobby, dabbling,
looking around, and then leaving after a year or two. As the
pickings became harder to obtain, the serious collectors stayed;
the others disappeared.
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- Of course, there's also
the problem of age attrition. The hobby has long been top-heavy
with older collectors. As they pass away, there are fewer younger
collectors to replace them. Today, as of this writing there are
some 850 known collectors officially in the hobby in the
US and Canada. Who knows how many 'unknowns' are out there, quietly
pursuing matchcover collecting on their own, but not enrolled
in any hobby organizations? But, the hobby's numbers, as with
so many other hobbies, have been steadily dwindling for the last
35 years. Society has changed. The pace of living is no longer
conducive to quiet, sit-down hobbies.
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- The hobby's in no danger
of disappearing, though. There are a small number of new collectors
appearing each year, and whatever the overall numbers happen
to be each year, there will always be people who appreciate and
collect these little pieces of cardboard history. Collectors
come and go, but hobbies live on.
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