BULLETIN
PRESIDENT TREASURER MEM SECRETARY EDITOR
Loren Moore Jack Benbrook Janet Johnk Mike Prero
POB 1181 1328 E. Rosser St. 6 Truman Dr 12659 Eckard
Roseville, CA 95678 Prescott AZ 86301 Novato,CA 94947 Auburn,CA 95603
877-752-6247 928-772-3763 415-897-6724 530-885-3604
No. 293 June 2009
by
Mike Prero
Ohhhhh! It wasn‟t just another good one...It was an even better one! More trading! More auction lots!
More covers! It makes me thankful that I was ultimately willing to travel the long 14 miles to get there (!).
The weather was perfect (Of course! We‟re talking California here! California in the Spring!—sunny
and 70s...and remember, this was in the first week of April). I pulled into the Heritage Inn parking lot
(conveniently located right off the freeway), and I could see immediately that the omens were good (the
parking space right outside the meeting room doors was empty!)
I opened up the back of the truck and began offloading the seven big trays of covers I had brought for
trading and started setting up on one of the many tables in the spacious meeting room. At 8:30 in the
morning, only Ron Quint, CA, was there ahead of me. By 9:00 AM, several others had set up and that
much looked-forward to trading had begun in earnest. And from then to app. 1:00 PM, that‟s what I did—
trade! Oh, and I got a lot of great covers!
For those of you unlucky enough to have never attended a Sierra-Diablo swapfest, I should point out that
the trading here is really informal. As Chester Crill says every year, “This is all the stuff I brought up, and
I don‟t want to take any of it back home!”—And that‟s pretty much the philosophy in place at the
swapfest. For the most part, it‟s not, “John, I‟ve got 76 of yours here. See if you can find 76 of mine you
want.” Rather, it‟s “John, take whatever you need!”
I‟d also set up a Freebie table with a few thousand covers and full-books. Most of this was material that I
had purposely been setting aside for such during the year, but some was also donated material from
generous members earlier in the year. I always smile to see the astonishment from first-timers and drop-ins
at the ‟help yourself‟ atmosphere of the swapfest.
President Loren Moore and family supplied a two-day array of ongoing drinks and snacks (have to keep
up the energy, you know, with all that constant trading!). Poor Loren! He‟s always on the go during the
whole weekend, what with the setting up and auctions. He never gets the chance to sit down and trade
during the actual swapfest hours. I assume he makes his trades during the evenings and with the early
birds before the action really starts on Saturday and Sunday. But, if Loren‟s trading suffers, the rest of us
No. 293 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-June 2009 Page 2
certainly prosper because of his untiring efforts! And, who, exactly, did prosper from all those efforts?...
Attending this year were, Ron Quint, CA; Janet and Duane Johnk, CA; myself, CA; Loren, Wendy,
Dustin, and Eric Moore, CA; Ron Dalton, CA; Deej Norton, CA; Tim Eagan, CA; George and Christine
Cosentini, CA; Jack and Alfie Benbrook, AZ; Chester Crill, CA; Raulin Mendonca, CA; Charlie Moore,
CA; Mike Schwimmer, MA; and miscellaneous drop-ins (thanks to the local ad Loren runs in the paper
prior to the swapfest).
I didn‟t hear anything negative during the two days I was at the swapfest, and everyone there certainly
seemed to have had a good and worthwhile time, but one of the niggling items that was of concern to at
least the club officers was that we‟re not getting anywhere near the attendance from Southern California
that we should be getting, so one of the things we‟re going to do in that area is run an ad in the AMCAL
program book, which leads my report, here, to the short business meeting that was held at the end of
Sunday‟s auctions.
And speaking of auctions! There were two, one Saturday and one Sunday, featuring a whopping total of
500 lots. Overall, the lot prices were quite low, so it was a buyer‟s paradise! The lots, themselves, varied
from single covers to albums to boxes of 1000+ covers. Some representative samples were: an album of
400+ Match Co‟s went for $27, 21 Full-length covers went for $2.50, 1000 struck 20‟s sold for $26, 4
Midgets went for $10, 8 Crowns went for a paltry $2, an album of 342 Foreign sold for $6, 1 album of 320
Canadian 30s was bought for $1!
The auctions were lengthy (because of so many lots) but went smoothly, with Deej recording all
individual results on his lap top, utilizing, once again, Loren‟s custom-made auction program. At the end
of the auction, practically before anyone even got up from their chairs, Deej was already printing out
everyone‟s itemized billings, for both sellers and buyers—making „check out‟ a breeze with basically no
waiting time at all. (Loren, it should be said, has offered that program to the other swapfests and
conventions for free—with no takers! What a disservice to auction attendees elsewhere!)
Details of the important decisions at the business meeting are discussed more fully on p. 7, but basically
it was decided to initiate a Sierra-Diablo store on our web site which would not only offer our great plastic
pages, but also cover sales. Also, it was decided, unanimously, 1) to invest in web advertising rather than
lower dues for our on-line members, and 2) to raise dues for hard-copy members from the present $10 to
$15, starting next April 1st.
You’re About To be Dropped From The Roster!
David Barbieri
Grace Bergman
Denis Bouchard
Jim Carroll
Pierre Dorval
Donald Ewart
Ronald Floyd
Dr Irwin Gross
David Hampton
Eugene Harris
Douglas Henley
Fred Houk
Kenneth Jackson
Brian Kelley
Robert Lamb, Jr
Louis Leonardo
Ruth Liebman
Ralph McDaniel
Michael Midda
Craig Neros
Bill Nye
Jack K. Paul
Bill Prescott
Ed Prestella
Edward Proctor
Mark Quilling
Duane W. Ready
Marilyn Reese
Gary Robbins
R.E. Robles
Douglas Shellum
Richard Singer
Frank Souto
Judi Stiles
Ray C. Sword
John Takahashi
Michael Tate
Michael Turrini
Tom Valachovic
Blane Walker
John Williams
Robert E. Wisniewski
Dues = $10 to Jack Ben-
brook,[email protected]
1328 E. Rosser Street,
Prescott, AZ 86301 928-
772-3763
No. 293 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-June 2009 Page 3
Errors XII: A Final Salute to Errors!
You gotta love „em!
1. Top left - Severely miscut
2. Top right - Off-center printing. The grey, here, is out of
kilter.
3. Bottom 1st - Missing text (something obviously came
between the cover and the printer)
4. Bottom 2nd - Double striker
5. Bottom 3rd - Severely miscut so that the cover is now a
parallelogram rather than a rectangle. This cover is also
miscut in the usual sense, as well.
6. Bottom 4th - Here‟s an unusual type of over printing. The
foil used on the front panel has splattered onto the back
panel, which is what the smudge is on the left side of the
back panel.
No. 293 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-June 2009 Page 4
Give Me Those Old Lions!
Here‟s yet another...dare I say.. „obscure‟...category that I‟m enamored with and that you may never have
given any consideration to—old Lion Match Co. covers. Immediately, though, one has to qualify just which
old Lion covers we‟re talking about, here. There were so many!—Old Lion Features, old Lion Safety Firsts,
and so on.
The ones I‟m focusing on are like the ones shown below. In non-technical terms, they‟re the old ones...but
they‟re not the really old ones. They‟re the sort of „in-between‟ covers. There, that helps. Doesn‟t it?
They‟re definitely old, but they‟re not as old as the Safety First covers and older than just about anything
else Lion came out with. Sooooooo, we‟re talking 1930s, maybe 1940s for the later ones. That‟s respectably
old! The manumark is distinctive, and that‟s how you single them out:
LION MATCH Co NEW YORK
[and the „o‟ is in the „C‟ in the „Co.‟]
Of course, given the age, these are all front-strike 20-strikes, but there is one more distinctive
characteristic to these covers. Typically, they‟re a couple of millimeters taller than an average cover. Not as
tall as a „Tall‟, or „XL‟, cover, but you‟d probably notice the difference if you tried to put them in most of
the old, slotted paper pages.
The real joy of a category this old is paging through your album and looking at all the bygone fashions,
the „quaint‟ gas stations, the (now) antique cars...and, then, certainly, there are all those old phone numbers.
[Ha! I just saw Loren‟s ears perk up!] There‟s no listing on these covers. I have app. 700.
No. 293 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-June 2009 Page 5
Thieves Market
[I don‟t normally run articles an individual businesses, but I was immediately struck with interest when I
ran across this Matchorama, especially since I‟m already predisposed towards History. I‟d love to wander
around this store!]
“In 1952 The Thieves Market was born from the vision of Henry Cohen, a young entrepreneur. He came
to Washington DC with his young family determined to start his own Auction company and Antique busi-
ness.
From it's small beginnings in 1952, the Thieves Market had grown to be an area leader in the Auction-
eering of Antiques & Provider Estate Services. At one point the Market had expanded to over 100,000
feet, housing a mall of Antique Stores and The Thieves Market Auction Gallery which thousands Wash-
ingtonians so fondly remember. The Thieves Market Auction Sales, were a family event, held on every
major holiday. Fabulous food buffets & Antiques & Fine Art, too, were the only game in town back then.
Thousands attended, from destinations nationally and locally. It was a time of rare finds & discoveries un-
matched in the Washington D.C. area
By 1970, The Thieves Market Auctions were the "Talk of Washington" & Henry Cohen‟s dream had
been realized. The Washington Star & Post both heralded the Thieves Market with full page color cover
stories! Henry Cohen was recognized in national media as the founder of the nation‟s first antique mall
"Supermarket" in the country, a phenomenon!! The tradition continues today with the Thieves Market at-
tracting tens of thousands of visitors a year from local Antiques enthusiasts to the rich and famous. Our
Antiques Mall concept has been followed nationwide and there are malls in every city, but only one Origi-
nal Thieves Market Antiques.
Kaplan & Susan Cohen have been dedicated to nurturing
the Thieves Market Antiques Business full time, since its
founder‟s passing in 1980. After
25 years of mall operation, and as
a result of Marketing changes we
have re-organized, and no longer
run a mall. We still offer the ar-
eas finest Antiques and unique
Discoveries in a more intimate
setting, at our large upscale store
in Vienna, Virginia. Their now
adult children
assist in the
family busi-
ness.”
[http://
www.thieves
m a r k e t a n -
tiques.com/
history. html]
No. 293 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-June 2009 Page 6
Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
For over 43 years, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel has captured worldwide attention as a modern
engineering wonder and an important East Coast travel convenience. Crossing over and under open waters
where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, the Bridge-Tunnel provides a direct link between
Southeastern Virginia and the Delmarva Peninsula (Delaware plus the Eastern Shore counties in Maryland
and Virginia), and cuts 95 miles from the journey between Virginia Beach and points north of
Wilmington, Delaware.
Following its opening on April 15, 1964, the Bridge-Tunnel was selected "One of the Seven Engineering
Wonders of the Modern World" in a worldwide competition that included more than one hundred major
projects. In addition, in 1965, it was distinguished as "The Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement"
by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
To date, over 95 million commercial and passenger vehicles have crossed the Bridge-Tunnel. In order to
meet future traffic demands and provide for a safer crossing, construction of a parallel crossing project
began in summer 1995, and opened to four-lane traffic on April 19, 1999. No less challenging than
construction of the original span, this project once again drew focus to a
remarkable achievement in engineering and construction.
[http://www.cbbt.com/history.html]
An American Tour:
33
No. 293 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-June 2009 Page 7
going up, from $10 to $15. Dues
for on-line members will stay
the same, at $10. The reason for
this is, as any club will tell you,
producing and mailing a hard-
copy bulletin was already
expensive, and in the last
several years the costs have
gotten even more expensive
(i.e., postal rates going up again
just last month). We have not
raised our dues since 2001.
Also, I pointed out at the
meeting that at least some of our
hard-copy members were going
to see this as an effort to push
them out of the club in favor of
an all-internet membership. This
was discussed at some length,
and no one present wanted to
abandon those hard-copy
members. It was simply felt that
their dues would need to be
raised to cover the costs of the
bulletin that they receive in hard
-copy format. Dues for the on-
line members were not raised
because the cost of producing
their bulletin has actually
decreased drastically, being
only a small fraction of what it
costs to produce the hard-copy
bulletin.
Indeed, the cost of producing
a bulletin for our on-line
members is insignificant! So,
they might fairly ask why their
dues aren‟t going down! That
was also discussed, and the
almost unanimous feeling was
that that „extra‟ the club is
making on their dues should be
reinvested in advertising both
the club and the hobby at large.
In keeping with that, President
Ads
W E E K L Y O N - L I N E
AUCTION: 60 lots per week;
featured topic each week, but
always with good selection of
other categories. Runs Sunday-
Sunday. http://matchpro.org
Coming Up
U N I T E D E A S T E R N
SWAPFEST: Jun 17-20, 2009.
Plaza Hotel, Hagerstown, PA (1-
800-732-0906). Room: $89-
$118). Auctions, Awards
banquet, Dealers, Displays, Grab
tables, Free Chicken & Pizza
meal, and much more. FMI:
S t e l l a W i l l i a m s ,
[email protected] or 937-
890-8684 .
RMS CONVENTION 2009: Aug. 10-15, Plaza Hotel,
Hagerstown, MD, conveniently
located in the heart of the
beautiful Cumberland Valley at
Exit 5A off I-81, just one-half
mile north of I-70. 301-797-
2500/800-732-0906/e-mail :
[email protected]. Single
room: $89+tax; Suite: $118-
154+tax. Theme: South of
Mason-Dixon Line in 2009.
Important Business
Items!
At the end of April‟s Swapfest
there was a business meeting,
and a couple of major new items
were decided upon:
1. Beginning April 1st, 2010,
dues for hard-copy members are
Loren Moore is going to focus
on advertising on the net. The
rationale there was that the small
number of collectors who are
already in the hobby have had
more than ample time to be
„exposed‟ to Sierra-Diablo and
have already made the decision
to join or not to join. What we
should therefore focus on is
bringing new people into the
club, and therefore the hobby at
large.
2. It was also decided that we
would open a new „store‟ on our
web site. The store would not
only offer our plastic pages to
members but will also offer
covers for sale (to both members
and non-members)...but not in an
auction format. For each offered
lot, the asking price (from the
seller) would be stated, and it
would then be on a „take it or
leave it‟ basis. So, it would be
just like having a dealer‟s table
on-line. All the details have not
be worked out yet, but I would
assume that the club would get a
percentage of each sale.
It will take a couple of months
to set this up, but interested
sellers may now start sending in
their lots (single or multiple
covers) to Loren Moore. Be
certain to mark them “FOR THE
STORE” so they don‟t get
confused with regular bulletin
auction lots.
Lists
Do you maintain any lists? The
Ed. needs to hear from you,
please. Which list(s) and what
No. 293 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-June 2009 Page 8
Replace with advertising text
Company Name
COMING
UP
Jul: ““Americana”
Aug: “In-Between Covers”
Sep: “Collecting Presidents”
SIERRA-DIABLO...we’re
the hottest club in the
hobby!
industry and, thus, within the
hobby.
Small categories, I think, are
even more of a reflection of each
collector‟s individual tastes and
background. Stella Williams
collects Roses, while I collect
A p p r o v e d b y D u n c a n
Hi n e s . . . Wh y? . . . O n l y t h e
individual collector knows.
Happy Birthday!
Des Granges, Carl.................6-1
Gordon, Philip.......................6-2
Dorval, Pierre........................6-3
Ewen, Doug.........................6-4
Liebman, Ruth......................6-4
Finkelstein, Evelyn...............6-6
Robins, Gary.........................6-6
Bell, Larry...........................6-09
Cahn, Alan..........................6-11
Henley, Doug......................6-12
Dawley, Helen....................6-18
Hampton, Dave...................6-20
Riches, Bonita.....................6-22
Hubbard, June.....................6-23
Goleman, Gerald.................6-25
Dargart, Larry.....................6-27
Bedra, Don..........................6-28
Benbrook, Jack.....................7-1
Eggleston, Kay......................7-1
Spangler, T.A........................7-5
Jackson, Ken.........................7-7
Meyer, Brian.........................7-9
Mitchell, James 'Mitch'.......7-10
Mason, Wilton....................7-13
Schwimmer, Mike...............7-14
Varille, George...................7-14
Cooke, Jenny.......................7-16
Nelson, Ron........................7-19
Kennaday, Dave..................7-23
Lauck, Richard....................7-26
Dixon, Barbara....................7-29
McMillan, Bob....................7-31
The Sierra-Diablo Bulletin is a
monthly publication of the Sierra-
Diablo Matchcover Club. Deadline
for all submissions is the 10th of
each month. Any information
herein may be reproduced with
appropriate credit line. Dues of
$10 (individual), $15 (family), $15
(Canada/Mexico) or $20 (outside
N. America) are payable to the
Sierra-Diablo Matchcover Club, c/
o Jack Benbrook, 1328 E. Rosser
St., Prescott, AZ 86301.
Visit theSierra-Diablo Web Site at:
http://www.matchcover.org/sierra
You can reach the Ed. on line at
[email protected] for help
with Bulletin/hobby questions,
concerns or problems.
Mil i t a ry, Shr ine r s , and
especially Navy Ships. She
a t tended many AMCAL
conventions and enjoyed
meeting matchcover friends. She
will certainly be missed.
Small Categories
Are Where It’s At?
It the latest RMS Insta-Poll
coming out in next month‟s
RMS Bulletin, collectors
definitely seem to be shifting
more towards small categories
and away from the larger, well-
known categories. There‟s a
fuller discussion of the why‟s in
that issue, but I take this as an
adjustment to the changed
circumstances within the
June’s Smile
are the current totals? I haven‟t
received updates on some for
several years.
Goldie Shine
Lone time member Goldie
Shine, CA, passed away
peacefully on April 16th. She
was soon to be 90 years old this
Fall. She was an avid collector
of Animals, Country Clubs,
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