Shucking Matches or Removing Matches from their Covers!

We ordinarily do not keep the matches within the matchcover or matchbox, except in certain circumstances when the match itself has been decorated (this type of match is known as a "feature"). You will find more information and examples of features on another page of this website.

The way we prepare our matchbooks is by stripping the matches from the cover (called "shucking" by most matchcover collectors).

The technique pictures below is usually used for newer matchbook covers, for older and thicker covers a variety of tools are used to remove the staple so that the cover is not damaged. This is a very important part of keeping your saving your matchbook covers.