In my childhood in the 1960’s I used to pick up interesting matchboxes for my cousin’s collection. At around ten years of age my eldest brother gave me his labels, about a hundred glued into a scrapbook, at that time I imagined it must have been the biggest collection in the country.
Fire Queen label, 53 x 34 mm
My cousin and myself were now in competition, if when cycling together a box was spotted we would fly off our bikes and a wrestling bundle would ensue.
The victor would retrieve his downturned prize to reveal a Fire Queen (the most common in our area).
Bryant & May Windproof matches, 53 x 36 x 16 mm
Even as a child I was aware that family friends would reel in horror at the prospect of a showing of my “huge” collection. I’d entertain them with a B&M windproof match that wouldn’t blow out. Then I bought a full box of B&M Braided Cigar Lights; my interest for match oddities was born.
This is Navneet Kulkarni from Pune, India. I am 46 now and have been collecting matchboxes since 1983. In our childhood games, losers had to give penalty to the winners. The currency was front labels of matchboxes. The catch was, if the matchbox was very common, we had to give 10-15-20 of them but if it was something different, unique, then you could get away with two or three.
That sparked the drive to get unique matchboxes in me. As I grew older, the childhood games were left behind, but the matchboxes were still with me.
Now I try to collect whole matchboxes with trays as far as possible. I have blog pages on Facebook and Instagram. It would be lovely to see you there and share my joy of collecting.
Matchboxes caught my attention when I was 11 years old. I started the collection imitating a cousin. At first it was a game and an excuse to escape from the family farm to explore the shops and tobacco shop.
Casque d’or label, 50 x 35 mm
Exploring the attics didn’t turn out, but I found “Casque d’or” box, dated mid-1920s, in a drawer at my grandparents’ house, a treasure for me at this time !
The virus for good infected me in 1994, at random from a newsstand, when I discovered the existence of of L’Association Vitolphilique et Philumenique Francaise (AVPF) through a classified ad from a collector in a specialized newspaper. I was then 22 years old and began to search for old boxes.
I immediately made the choice to limit my collection to complete French boxes and to go back as closely as possible to the origins of this everyday object. My oldest box is from the end of the 1830s.
From before 1950 I have about 3500 complete boxes including 1000 from before the monopoly established in 1872. Over time I have also collected labels, especially for advertising boxes from the 1920s / 1930s some of which are very rare. Since 2008 I have been in charge of writing the magazine of AVPF and since 2011 chairman of the AVPF.
As a new member of the British Matchbox Label and Bookmatch Society it is interesting to discover so many like-minded people, and through the ongoing development of their website and new Instagram account I now have the opportunity to share with you a small selection of labels acquired over the years.
Grandfather Alan Middleton joined the society in 1969 and son Mark and grandson Padraig joined earlier this year in 2021.
Published 2018
Alan’s interests in phillumeny are mainly pre World War Two labels and British Bookmatches, and he enjoys researching the history of labels. He has written a number of books and articles about the match manufacturers in the North of England.
On the other hand Mark and Padraig are interested in the designs and artwork of matchbox labels.
From the early beginnings of the match industry the labels applied to boxes have depicted a wide variety of topics, those of a purely typographic design but many depicting pictorial images or interpretations of animal, vegetable and mineral subjects, in fact just about anything you can think of. However the match and its box have become iconic images of their own and can be found to be represented in many products both practical and whimsical. Here is a mere sample of some I have come across.
Fuel lighters
Fuel lighters:- From the top; a wooden match with plastic head, eighteen inches in length the head is removed to reveal a disposable lighter concealed inside. The “Big Match Lighter” thirteen and a half inches long seen below its box and to the left below that, are two gas lighters operated by electric switches, to the right another gas lighter worked by thumbing the head back (see inset). At the bottom of the page is the “Ever-Light” here the head unscrews to withdraw a petrol retaining tube with a steel plate designed to be drawn across the pyrite striker in the stem (see inset) this system is often found under the title of “The Permanent Match”.
Ceramic bar match, 335 mm long, stem 41 mm square
Bar ware:- A large ceramic match measuring thirteen inches, inscribed “MADRIGAL STONEWARE MADE IN ENGLAND” on the base. These are generally described as match strikers where the matches would be sitting loose in the trough for customers to take and strike against the rough body of the piece.
Useful implements
Useful implements:- Top and below; plastic pens where the head is removed to reveal the ballpoint nib. Third down; similar to above but a pencil. Bottom; a box of matches where the heads are rubber erasers. Right; ball point pens in an oversized bookmatch cover.
Consumables
Consumables:- Top left; a miniature whiskey bottle made for a matchbox sized container. Right; chilli samples from a modern range of different novelty food samples. Bottom; two different Bryant & May small size boxes with Ark labels produced for Maynards.
Whimsical and practical
Whimsical and practical:- Top left; One from a series of plastic scenes made to be inserted into what are genuine England’s Glory boxes with a label added to the side panel (see inset). Below; a music box in a matchbox. Right; two plastic matchbox pencil sharpeners.
Miniature book, 58 x 41 x 20 mm
Miniature book:- An illustrated copy of Robinson Crusoe the size and design of a Bryant & May Ark box on the cover.
Trick box, 80 x 50 x 16 mm
Trick box:- A box where the bottom side has a compartment where a coin could be concealed with a nice label that could pass for the genuine item.
Calculators
Calculators:- Two diminutive pocket calculators one as a bookmatch and one as a matchbox.
Various
Various:- A sponge, a tin, a patch, and a metal match that may have been given as a token to a couple.
Stationery
Stationery:- Top left; notebook, below; plain paper pad, centre; and inset bookmatch style memo pad, right; matchbox label card set.
Vera Robertson, an esteemed late member of the Phillumeny Club of South Australia, got me interested in collecting these items. The series is defined as a skillet or bookmatch having a logo or symbol printed on a range of booklets on one panel of exact design with a business name on the other panel.
Another noted late member, Joe Dulf, encouraged me to turn a list I compiled to note the items I had in my collection into a full catalogue on these series. This turned into a daunting task as I never realised how many series there were. Interest was seeded by many members with lists being supplied to me.
The catalogue grew to over 150 series with over 15,000 items. Items are still being found today.
Here are a few pages from my album showing some of my Australian Logo Series, click on an image below to enlarge it.
Like most countries, Australia was home to numerous match factories with four of the mainland states laying claim to at least one factory. The State of Victoria had the most factories and was the seat of our first Federal Parliament in 1901 until it moved to Canberra in 1927. Unfortunately, today there are no match factories in Australia but our iconic Miss Redheads, born in 1946, still lives on but in Sweden.
This exhibit takes a very brief look at each of the major manufacturers and their subsidiaries including name changes and mergers showing a selection of their brands. Matchbox labels, pillbox tops, bookmatches and skillets were all produced at some stage in Australia.
Further details can be found on the first page of the display, click on an image to enlarge it.
In the past the habit of smoking was not a practice that was generally conducted indoors, smokers had to brave the elements, over the years there have been many types of windproof match designed to combat windy conditions. While the match companies provided chemical solutions to deal with this and other situations, the makers of match hardware were using their ingenuity to create designs intended specifically to help the windswept smoker.
“Stay-lit” matchbox holder, 57 x 36 x 16 mm
The “Stay-lit” matchbox holder employed a mechanical system that held a match clamped within the case, when the internal slide was drawn out [1a] the match would be angled down to engage the striker of the small size box held within, the motion of the box’s striker being drawn along the match head would ignite it and allow a protected flame to emerge from the eight holes located above.
Anti-Storm Pocket-Slide, 64 x 43 x 25 mm
The “Anti-Storm Pocket-Slide” was designed to take a regular sized matchbox, an ingenious design but the execution of lighting a cigarette was a rather convoluted process.
Inner slide
First an inner slide that held the matchbox was drawn out sideways to allow the drawer of the matchbox to be opened and a match retrieved [2b].
With the box now safely closed the match would be inserted into a hole on the side of the case which had a sliding mechanism running lengthways and allowed the match to be struck on the box striker.
With the flame protected from wind and rain the cigarette could be inserted through the hole and ignited. When fully closed up the drawer of the match box was secured and could not come open [2a]. The design was patented in 1901 by Robert Schules and C Fladerer from Bohemia (Czechoslovakia).
Edward VII coronation tin, 61 x 41 x 18 mm
The Edward VII 7th coronation tin initially looks like a regular matchbox slide but is technically a vesta case as it holds the matches within its own metal drawer and has a ribbed surface on one side of the tin for striking.
The Surelight
When it was given to me it was described as a trick box however named on the drawer as “The Surelight” [3a] and having no obvious trick function I believe it to be another piece designed to combat windy conditions. The outer case is a typical slide with small folds over one end so that the drawer can only open in one direction.
[3b] The drawer is a double skinned affair the outer section having a cut out that allows the inner drawer to be pushed shut protecting the unused matches, this leaves the outer section open providing a wind shield for the ignited match which would be placed in the slot at the end of the drawer.
Bryant & May matchbox cover, 64 x 42 x 22 mm
I wonder if the Bryant & May matchbox covers made for the soldiers in the first world war might have been used by the troops in the same manner, they may have even hid the flame from night time snipers – three cigarettes on a match anyone?
This exhibit shows part of my collection of Bengal matchbox labels. I am particularly interested in Bengal matches as they combine two of my main interests: match paraphernalia and fireworks.
Indian box with Bengal Match
Bengal Matches are a special type of pyrotechnic match that generally burn for a longer time than ordinary matches and give off a brightly coloured flame when burning. They have a wooden splint and two composition parts : one at the tip to initiate combustion, and the other adjoining the head along a long length of the splint. Bengal matches are still manufactured today that flare either green, red or silver, and most are made in India.
The labels in this exhibit are only a fraction of my Bengal match collection, which also includes skillets and empty boxes. Click on an image below to enlarge it.
Further details can be found on the first page of the display, click on an image to enlarge it.
