Like any other collectibles, matchbook covers are steeped in lore. Want ads aside, the newsletter is a roundup of upcoming events, fresh sources, and general news, plus information on the achievements of members and their families, such as Shedlow’s 14-year-old daughter’s version of Romeo and Juliet, which she called “Boneo and Chewelet,” the story of a dog and a cat who fall in love. Since 51 percent of North Americans are supposed to be smokers, these matchbook covers really get around.”Ĭollectors from as far away as Texas put want ads in Shedlow’s bimonthly newsletter requesting covers with roses or cats on them or something as specific as a Portuguese set of American astronauts. Sixty percent of our club members aren’t smokers, but 40 percent are heavy smokers. It’s a funny thing, though, because I’m not a smoker. And I just sort of fell into collecting for myself. “I’d be picking up matchbooks for this customer from hotels and restaurants and I’d ask her, should I get three or four? Or, when I went to a special hotel, should I get 100? And she’d say sure, because a collector can always use extras for trading. Seymour Shedlow came to collecting through his wife, a hairdresser, one of whose customers collected matchbooks. So far I have about 15, including spiders, caterpillars, butterflies, and a honeybee.” “People often collect match covers in themes–movie stars, playing cards, animals, babies, windmills, lobsters, or, say, one from every Holiday Inn in the world, since hotels and restaurants are a common source. He runs ads in newspapers and buys entire collections, usually paying two or three cents a cover. When I’d come home I’d throw them all in my drawer and eventually I realized that I should start collecting them, which I’ve been doing now for the past 20 years.” Bressler won an award at the national Rathkamp convention for a set of Milwaukee Brewers match covers, a different matchbook autographed by each and every one of the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers. “I don’t smoke but I’d go on all these dates and carry matchbooks with me in order to light cigarettes for girls. Dressed in striped shorts and a blue sleeveless T-shirt, Bressler, who claims to have about a million match covers, got into collecting in a circuitous fashion. One of them is Charles Bressler, of Pewaukee, Wisconsin. The Windy City membership is now about 160 and reaches into Indiana and Wisconsin, but only 20 or 30 usually come to the monthly meetings. It’s the only group of its kind in the Chicago area, and to get it off the ground Cigrang and Shedlow sent out a few hundred postcards to members of the Rathkamp Matchcover Society, a national organization of collectors. Seymour Shedlow, an intense, dark-haired man of 45 whose license plates say “MATCHS,” started the club with Bob Cigrang, 37, a traveling salesman, in July of 1985. They’re known as “phillumenists” or “lovers of light.” They’re also known as the Windy City Matchbook Club, and they meet, religiously, on the first Sunday of every month at the Indian Boundary Park field house to indulge in what is said to be the world’s largest hobby next to stamp collecting: collecting match covers and matchboxes. Sommelier Series (paid sponsored content).
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