Friday at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources to help them determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do some preliminary research to get them started. So, these are market values based on prices I find on the web, not appraisals for insurance purposes that I suggest for items that have been determined to be of great value.
Today’s question is about a collection of matchbooks with NFL team logos.
Question:
1982 Universal Match Co NFL Helmet matches – complete collection. The only “strike” year of the NFL and first year of the Seattle Seahawks – current Super Bowl champs. Unstruck and all matches. I’ve seen some individual helmet books for sale on eBay for $5 each but never a complete set. Any idea of the value?
Answer:
I’ve gotten several questions over the years about matchbooks, including one the week I got this query. Normally, I tell readers that their matchbooks are not worth much, based on the research I’ve done on eBay and other sites.
Since this was the first time I’d gotten an inquiry about sports matchbooks, I was intrigued. Baseball cards come up at auction pretty often and they can be had for $5 a box (or $5 for multiple boxes), and they are usually snapped up. So I know that sports memorabilia can be popular.
The reader sent me a photo of 28 matchbooks. Each bore a helmet with the logo/mascot and color of individual NFL teams, along with the team’s name. The reader didn’t send a photo of the inside of the matchbook, but several that I saw on the web showed the team schedule along with an advertiser who likely paid big books for that privilege.
Sports matchbooks have been around for decades, taking off in the 1930s when Diamond Match Co. produced a series of them featuring football, baseball and hockey players. They included photos of big-name players along with a brief background on them. Some of these are collectible, but all may not be, as one site noted and offered advice on how to tell if your matchbooks were worthy. A peek at eBay showed some 1930s matchbooks that did not sell.
Another site mentioned that matchbooks featuring Bronko Nagurski, who played for the Chicago Bears in the 1930s and 1940s, were among the most collectible. On eBay, two were sold separately for $55 and $70, while another retail site was asking $345 for one of Nagurski’s matchbooks. All three were different.
An auction of eight matchbooks with his photo sold for $665 at auction in 2002.
The reader’s matchbooks were made by Universal Match Corp., which manufactured waterproof matches for the military both abroad and at home during World War II. According to one website, Universal’s heyday was from the 1960s to the 1980s. An auction in 2008 of 30,000 unfolded matchbooks of all sorts from the company’s archives sold for $1,000.
In my research, I primarily found what the reader had found – that most of the NFL matchbooks were being offered individually for about $5 or $6 each. I only found one set of 40, which also include matchbooks from the late 1970s, that sold for $67 in 2006.
Checking the “Completed Listings” on eBay, I found a set of 26 matchbooks that sold recently for $18.95 (with one bidder) and a special collector’s series of 28 that sold for $4.99. One seller was asking $75 for a set of 28 and another, $95 for a set of 32. There were watchers of the items but no bidders.
No one seemed to be interested in most of the individual team covers; the Vikings, Steelers and Washington were the only ones that sold. It’s a great collectable for those who are interested in the NFL, since there are many who like taking part through collecting and sports betting through places like FanDuel. The sales followed what I’d learned in my research: that matchbook covers have to be pretty special to be of much value. I can’t attach a value to the reader’s collection, but the results from eBay are a pretty good indicator of its worth.
Hi my wife’s grandmother collected them so I have over 300 match books a lot from Hawaii I have several box match small and large boxes. I also have some that are not match but look like match books some are mapes that look like match books . Others are half matches with a sewing kit inside them real cool