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.
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“I don’t smoke but I’d go on all these dates and carry matchbooks with me in order to light cigarettes for girls. 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. He runs ads in newspapers and buys entire collections, usually paying two or three cents a cover. “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. I’m starting my own new category: bugs. So far I have about 15, including spiders, caterpillars, butterflies, and a honeybee.”
Seymour Shedlow came to collecting through his wife, a hairdresser, one of whose customers collected matchbooks. Shedlow did his best to oblige her. “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. And I just sort of fell into collecting for myself. It’s a funny thing, though, because I’m not a smoker. Sixty percent of our club members aren’t smokers, but 40 percent are heavy smokers. Since 51 percent of North Americans are supposed to be smokers, these matchbook covers really get around.”
There’s not a lot of money to be made or lost in the hobby. Bob Cigrang said that the most he’d ever paid for a cover was $15. “A lot of people call up wanting to sell their collections but 90 percent of the time what they have is pretty common. The nice thing about the club is that a lot of the old-timers like to help the younger people just to keep covers in circulation. Me, I like to save pictures of Indians. I have 400 or 500 of them. And I’m always looking to trade for more.”
