Collecting Matchboxes

Collecting Matchboxes and Match Booklets

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Collectibles and Memorabilia.


The first friction match was invented by Dr. Charles Sauria in France in 1831. The fact is that the collecting of matchboxes, booklets and containers is already well established and can show a good profit if you really get to know your subject.

There are three main areas for collecting-specially made match containers, original matchboxes and match booklets.

The most decorative and possibly the most profitable are containers that were specially made to hold matches.

Some of the best examples of special matchboxes are in gold or silver, made by master craftsmen. Others were decorated with enamel and sometimes studded with precious stones. There are also containers made in pewter, pinchbeck, brass , electroplate, etc.

The collecting of original matchboxes is a little more difficult because at that time nobody thought they would ever be collected.

Before the introduction of phosphorous, early matches produced such a firework display of sparks and a cloud of toxic gas that the manufacturers were compelled to spell out the danger on their matchboxes like "Matches can damage your health" long before cigarettes.

Match booklets since their introduction in America around 1890, have been collected in albums just like postage stamps. And of course when there’s interest and demand, there’s money.

The main reason for match booklets becoming collectable is because from the start they were used as an advertising medium and so had a lot of attractive diversity, and they can easily be mounted in an album.

So depending on your interest and budget you can collect specially made match containers, matchboxes or match booklets.

Remember for all your collecting ideas drop by Rare Antiques Collectibles and
Memorabilia.

Collecting Banknotes/ Paper Money

This came into common usage in Europe in the latter part of the seventeenth century, in the form of bills, drafts and promissory notes used by bankers and merchants.

But the history of paper money goes back beyond that time, and is genrally accepted as having originated in china around a.d.700.

It took the form of paper drafts and developed into paper money redeemable in coin around a.d. 1000

It is interesting to note that these early banknotes were issued in great number with little or no regard for the economy.

The result was raging inflation and the downfall of the government in this case a dynasty. Nearly two thousand years later we still have the same trouble. Will we never learn?

Apart from the traditional old paper money there is a great potential in the banknotes of new or emerging countries.

Quite often a coup will overturn a government and the new leader immediately orders the elimination or withdrawal of that country’s currency so that he can get his own portrait on the new issue. This sort of situation could well lead to a shortage of a particular note.

One collector of banknotes framed his collection in a glass with a black velvet cloth as a background. His collection has also increased substantially in value and as decorative scheme , the effect is absolutely stunning.

Art Deco

Welcome to Rare Antiques Collectibles Memorabilia.

Art Deco refers to all decorative designs between world war one and two. The investing collector have a wide array of items to choose from because Art Deco extends to a long period of time.

Art Deco connotes to a period rather than a style. this is the era of the flapper, the charleston and the wallstreet crash. It penetrated all aspects of life from clothing to buildings, from egg cups to office furniture. the collector has a vast field from which to select.

Ceramic vases,porcelain figures,bone china,porcelain tea and coffee sets of the art deco era are rapidly rising in prices.

Since the opening of tutankhamen's tomb in 1923 egyptian designs and motiffs started to appear in everything like clocks were designed with scarab wing sides and dining chairs with stepped pyramid like backs.

Art Deco hold the most promise for the enthusiatic who wishes to consider his collection as an investment.