question about displaying matchbooks

-does anyone have any ideas for displaying match books?? i'm looking for some sort of wall mounted display like a picture frame type of thing that i can put all my tiki matchbooks in....anyone done this yet to their collection?? please post pics and advice.-thanks.

I have seen matchbook displays on plaques like this one...you might even be able to build your own.

I found this too

http://www.grandpajon.com/matchbooks.htm

I have mine hung from twine under one mug shelf and also under the bulkhead over the bar. Having them kinda strung out leads people around the collection.This worked best for me because I have alot of matches and wanted the wall space for other stuff. Pairing matches with their respective mugs on a shelf looks cool to.

I like this answer that Hanford posted a few years ago.

Matchbook Display

thanks for the tips....i may try my hand at making one or two or buying one off that link and customizing it....i like the plexi glass door idea...keeps the matchbooks dust and spilled rum free!!

I alway worry about storage of old matches. When my Dad was young a neighbor who had collected thousands of matchbooks and stored them in large steel file cabinets in his basement lost his house when his collection ignited one night.

Good Old Fashioned Reicher Mounts...

..i don't have thousands of matchbooks...i don't have hundreds even. but if i did, i wouldn't keep them all in a file cabinet where they could strike against eachother and ignite...besides, that's why we have insurance for our houses....also, he may have had some of those old strikeless(?) matches mixed in there, the kind with the white tip that ignites when you strike it against any surface or with your finger nail edge....there's a reason you don't see those used very often anymore.

i think i'm gonna convert some of my monkeyman album frames into some cool tiki matchbook display cases...stay tuned.

I flatten mine out and sort them by like type (by establishment, usually), then frame them. It keeps off the dust and makes for an interesting display. We've had guests over wanted to know where we got the 'neat mini-posters'.

On 2008-01-21 10:18, captnkirk wrote:
I alway worry about storage of old matches. When my Dad was young a neighbor who had collected thousands of matchbooks and stored them in large steel file cabinets in his basement lost his house when his collection ignited one night.

Most serious matchbook collectors remove the matches from the covers.

This always seemed brutally counterintuitive to me.
In ANY other field of collecting, destroying or removing part of the item is completely tabu.
But matchbook collectors routinely pay big bucks for their stuff and then rip out the guts.
I cringe... but I guess it saves them from stories like your dad's neighbor.

I wanted to learn more, so I poked around some matchbook collecting sites. The reason collectors remove the matches is for ease of display and less chance of damage in storage and in mailing as they trade a lot. As some matches are actually printed on the matches and that is their value "Feature Matches", removing them would destroy them. So, its not an option. In terms of a spontaneous combustion:

I came across your website as a result of a search on the topic of matchcover collecting. My wife and I were discussing a question of safety regarding her matchbook collection. We have several hundred that we have gotten down through the years and they are in a tall antique fruit jar. This jar, which was used for putting up fruit in quantities years ago, is very large (nearly two feet tall). We were wondering if this constitutes a safety hazard. Could you advise please? I also wondered whether the value (if any) of her collection would be harmed if we removed all of the matches. Thanks for any advice you can render. Bob Hampton

Thanks for writing. As safety matches (modern match books) they is no fire hazard. If (God forbid) your house caught on fire, the matches would burn with more intensity than a newspaper or curtain or whatever. But as far as spontaneous combustion, it isn't a problem. The only thing that kind of storage will do is possible hurt the value insofar as serious collectors want mint condition match books and/or matchcovers. Scratches, dents, stains, etc., reduce their value. To answer the second part of your question, I would say that removing the matches from post-1960 match books wouldn't really harm their value. In the early days of the hobby, matchcovers were the popular collectible as ten could be traded through the mail for three cents. Match books often crushed or were damaged. Today, most collectors enjoy both, and even though full books are more difficult to store and ship, they hold a special place in the hearts of many serious collectors.

A pal of mine was lucky enough to inherit a table from his folks- they had decoupaged their matchbook collection on it, and it is really striking, I may try it myself some time....

Striking- ha!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/modbetty/528491504/in/set-72157600334261738/