A Step Back In Time: Matchbooks

Here's something that is becoming a dying breed: matchbooks.

Am I upset about them going away? Not at all! Statistics show that people are getting smarter and not smoking as much, which makes the world a better place.

Once a great way to advertise a business, leave a clue for a gumshoe, ruin a marriage (by having the misses find one in your coat pocket), matchbooks and matchboxes are starting to become collector's items.

For instance: the "How It Began: The Airplane" matchbook is available on eBay for $4.99. 

The Greenery, an establishment in the Dupont Plaza in Dallas, had matchboxes printed that are now available on eBay for $11.49.

The Trail Dust Steak House matchbox is going for $3.99. The La Quinta Inn matchbook is going for $1.99.

So far, about $22 worth of matchbooks/boxes. Enough for a decent seafood platter somewhere.

The only matchbook I couldn't find online was this one:

Reflections at the Dupont Plaza (Dallas). Maybe, just maybe, I can sell it on eBay for enough to get a Coke with that seafood platter!

(ebay)