Match Holders- Single Owner Collection at Whalen Auctions

Cast iron Horseshoe match holder, Good Luck 1895

Cast iron Horseshoe match holder, Good Luck 1895, sold at Whalen Auction, April 2010

A single-owner collection of match holders put together over a 45-year period was sold on April 15, 2010, by Whalen Realty & Auction, Ltd. The sale was held at the company’s auction gallery in Neapolis, Ohio.

The cataloged auction featured approximately 570 lots that were sold without reserve. There was no buyer’s premium.

A relatively sparse crowd of roughly 40 bidders participated from the floor, competing against a fair number of absentee bidders. The seller, an Arkansas collector in his 80s, passed the goods to a younger generation of buyers. “He decided to sell what he had, and he didn’t care what it brought,” said auctioneer John Whalen.

Prices were mixed throughout the day. “The match holders brought a lot of activity and a lot of interest.” Whalen noted that the better examples brought more than he expected. “The rare ones went above the price and the cheaper ones went below.”

-p4A.com contributing editor Don Johnson