Right now I wanted to share the Christmas ones. I will post the other ones at another time. The Santa one has the name Gil Stuempel letter pressed on the back. A quick search shows me one listing for Gilbert Stuempel. He was born in 1906 and died in 1993. He lived in Southern California.
The other matchbook was given by Edward V Bedney. I love the words on each match. A search on him finds also only one result. But, this is fascinating. The result is another collector site - The Universalist Ship Cancellation site. These people collect the cancellations of maritime letters. So close to what I do, but I know nothing about it and didn't even know a group like that existed.
Wow, this entry took a little turn in the road. Instead of just sharing these really neat jumbo matchbooks, I have to remark on how interesting it is that this man, Edward V Bedney has lived on in history due to things that most people throw away. Although he may have died before the internet was common, he is still searchable and present because of ephemeral things and people who collect and document them. The internet is so amazing. How crazy that something he presumably sent and something her received would both be found by collectors, valued and posted online.
