One thing I love about this hobby and this board is that I am always learning new things. There is a lot left to learn and people are adding to our collective knowledge all the time. Thanks to Gene, Ed, Pam, Don, John B and all of the others who have and continue to share the things they learn and the things that they love. Thanks to them, I decided a number of years ago to branch out beyond just chips for my area of focus, Aruba. The great thing about this is that I don't know a whole lot about those other areas of collecting, so I often find new things to check out and learn. Recently (thanks to Don Lueders, Eric Miller and a big thanks to Jim Essig), I have delved a little further into matchbook collecting. On three occasions, I have picked up a book as part of a group trade, intending to upgrade a matchbook/cover I already have or happy to add a trader in order to make the trade pleasurable for both parties (except for Jim, who just won't take anything back! ). On each occasion, when I got the cover or sometime after I had already decided on the trade, I noticed that I actually did not have the matchbook I was trading for. It was a variation. Since I am still pretty new (meaning I have not learned much yet, not that I haven't been picking up matchbooks for a number of years. Lol), I miss what is probably pretty obvious for the seasoned matchbook collector. I have had to learn the terms just to describe to myself what the difference is.

As an example, I asked Eric for an Aruba Caribbean cover because it was clearly in better condition than the one I have. I noticed on another trade that the manumark (the text on one of the creases where manufacturers often put their names) was different for a cover I thought I had. So, I looked at this one and in the process, I noticed that the windows on the drawing of the hotel building were quite different. I continued to the manumark and sure enough, different companies (Diamond Match and Lion Match). A closer look showed the illustrations were quite a bit different. How had I not noticed? When I got the cover, I saw the interior, which I had not seen. Totally different. It would have given it away, but I'm glad I didn't see it because it made me look closer and discover some of the things to look for on matchbook covers. Here's what they look like:

And the interiors:

If you look very closely, you will see that one of the offshoot hallways from the main building looks larger than the other. I suspect this is due to actual construction and the larger one is on the newer matchbook. I had another, complete book, in another color. I wondered which company made it. It looked like one of the drawings, but used more than one color. I always suspected that it was a newer matchbook and sure enough, it has the larger offshoot hallway. The manumark? It says Match Corp. of America. Looks like a third company. The interior? It looks like the older Diamond matchbook, with slight differences in asterisks and font thickness in the logo at the top. I don't know what order the three were used, but it's a nice riddle.

There is another difference in these matchbooks, an area I believe is called the footer. This is the area where the reader is warned to close the cover before striking. It differs on all three in font, spacing or text.

Here is the blue Aruba Caribbean matchbook:

Some of this stuff may seem obvious. I remember staring at pictures of chips when I first started collecting, trying to figure out how they were different. The differences seemed to be obvious to the people on the Chip Board. When I figured out what it was, I would wonder how I could have missed it. It has more inserts, the mold is different. How did I overlook that? But I did. Learning the details is what makes each collectible area fun. I have been learning similar lessons about matchbooks and players/slot club cards.

I was amazed after looking at a players card from The Casino as the Radisson (Aruba) in my traders, trying to figure out which issue it was, to discover that the picture on it was different than all of the others. Very similar, obviously from the same photo shoot, but different. I had the card for a few years and never really looked at it. I can't fail to see it now. The learning is the best part.

See the different picture? I didn't, for a long time. And the great thing is, I still have a lot to learn.

Michael Siskin