(Editor's Note: Ruth Kirkpatrick (AMCC#0036) has been with our club almost from the beginning. We have gone back and forth on many matchcover issues, but she has always used a positive, open-minded approach in every letter. Thank you, Ruth, for bringing this issue to our attention.)

Railroad matchcovers, at any auction or raffle in the past few years, have become high-ticket items with an undercurrent of levity. By that, I mean that those fortunate few who possess the rare and hard to find matchcovers bundle up a small packet of weary matchcovers, put them into auctions and wait for the hungry railroad collector to bite. And we do! All the while, I picture the sellers grinning and wringing their hands in fiendish delight.

Even at club auctions more and more sellers of railroad matchcovers are bundling them up in plain brown wrappers or sealing them in envelopes. Why are these matchcovers being sold sight unseen or in the case of mail auctions, sold as "different themes" (whatever that means) or just plain railroad matchcovers? After all, when the 1939 New York World's Fair matchcovers are offered they are offered and listed as single entities, unless in or part of a set.

I do not blame the club who offers these in auctions, but I do feel something should change in the offering of not only rare railroad matchcovers, but matchcovers that collectors desire and may be virtually unobtainable, money wise, and becoming more so. I often feel as though I am at the mercy of these sellers. If we are indeed in a caveat emptor (buyer beware) market then the collectors we are trying to encourage to join our ranks are going to become quickly disillusioned.

Few of us are high rollers. Like many in our society these days, money talks, and good intentions sometime walk. One of the arguments I hear is that the cost in stamp collecting has gone up 100% or more in recent years. That argument is not going to hold water in regard to the matchcover hobby. The Federal Government puts out new stamps all the time, but haven't we all noticed that more and more places are offering plain white match books? Match book manufacturing is not what you would call a major growth industry.

Aren't we trying to keep this hobby alive, not cause it's death knell? And why are some clubs so intent on putting out lists of people who are heavy into extolling how many matchcovers they have and how many in each category? Would they consider going through these monumental collections and circulating them?

Will it come down to the precious few who can buy at any price and the precious few who count their collections in the millions?

Does anyone else feel this way, or am I a lone dissenter?