Between 1st and 15th January 2021 the Bangladesh Matchbox Collector’s Club held the world’s first on-line matchbox exhibition. The Exhibition is now closed, but a review of it can be found in the February magazine.
The new Netflix movie THE DIG is set in 1939 and tells the story of the Sutton Hoo archaeological dig and treasure trove. Many of the characters smoke, and there are several closeups of matchboxes. The continuity people did a good job, because they clearly show a wooden England’s Glory box on several occasions.
In 2008 a comprehensive book with 88 pages was published with the title Harlequin Matches. This was followed by a second edition that was significantly larger with 120 pages. Now a third edition, which adds in even more information about these fantastically colourful matchboxes has been published (February 2021) and is now available for purchase. It details Bryant & May’s range of Harlequin Matches. It is laid out in the same format as the previous editions. It is arranged in two sections. Section One details the cardboard Harlequin range and Section Two the Plastic Harlequin range. The third edition now numbers 137 pages and is illustrated thought-out in colour with 173 pictures. Full review will appear in the April magazine.
Harlequin Matches Third Edition
We are pleased to announce that this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on line using the popular Zoom video conferencing platform. The AGM is going to be held on April 11th at 14:00 UK time.
We held our inaugural On-line Auction on Sunday 14th March and were really pleased with the way it ran. 25 members attended on-line and 8 postal bidders had also submitted bids. There was a lot of enthusiastic bidding for 30 very desirable Lots, and the results will be published in our April magazine.
Our next Auction takes place on Sunday 9th May at 14:00, and the Catalogue will be published with our April magazine.
If you would like to take part then please email us at onlineauction@phillumeny.com
The names of the annual Society Award winners were announced at the 2021 AGM, which was held on-line for the first time. This years winners are :
Alan’s book is available from our Shop Window.
We recently received an enquiry from an author who is working on a novel set in late 1944 where a teenager in London is trying to sell individual matches to raise some money, and asked us how much a box of matches would have cost back then. After scratching our heads for a bit we were able to provide two answers :
Our Instagram account @ukphillumeny is now up and running and shows some of our archive photos of matchboxes, labels, bookmatches and hardware. We will be regularly posting new photos from Society archives and encourage members to follow us. We’ll be using #ukphillumeny to tag all our posts. This is our first step into Social Media, which we are convinced will allow us to make contact with new members and phillumeny enthusiasts worldwide and increase everyone’s knowledge of the fascinating world of phillumeny. You can also email us using instagram@phillumeny.com
We’re pleased to announce that due to the continued decrease of Covid numbers in the UK we have now provisionally booked Sheen Lane Centre, London for an all-day meeting on Sunday October 3rd more details here.
Visit the Society web site during October – everybody is welcome to visit the Exhibition.
Members without internet access can hopefully could use a public-access facility (e.g. a library) to view the Exhibition.
We believe that this On-line Exhibition will be popular with our members, and also hope that it will attract new members to the Society. Please send any questions or suggestions to onlineexhibition@phillumeny.com or add your comments to this Blog.
After almost three years we’re pleased to announce that the Society Bookshop has now re-opened, stocking over 25 great books on all aspects of Phillumeny from individual match manufacturers to the story of entire nations. You can visit the Bookshop here and order your books on-line. The full bookshop list is also available in the August Match Label News.
The December magazine has now been posted to members. It includes all the latest phillumeny news plus details of our Auctions.
The December magazine has now been posted to members. It includes all the latest phillumeny news plus details of our Auctions.
The October magazine has now been posted to members. It includes all the latest phillumeny news plus details of our Auctions.
The December magazine has now been posted to members. It includes all the latest phillumeny news plus details of our Auctions.
The February magazine has now been posted to members. It includes all the latest phillumeny news plus details of our Auctions.
The October magazine has now been posted to members. It includes all the latest phillumeny news plus details of our Auctions.
The August magazine has now been posted to members. It includes full details of the Northwich meeting and more details about our third On-line Phillumeny Exhibition in October.
Our friends in the Bangladesh Matchbox Collectors’ Club are holding their first face-to-face exhibition from 22 to 24 September 2023. We wish them every success with the show.
The June magazine has now been posted to members. It includes full details of the July On-line Auction and more details about our On-line Phillumeny Exhibition in October.
The June magazine has now been posted to members. It includes all the latest Phillumeny news and meeting dates.
The August magazine has now been posted to members. It includes full details of the September On-line Auction and more details about our On-line Phillumeny Exhibition in October.
The April magazine has now been posted to members. It includes all the latest Phillumeny news plus details of our AGM.
Committee’s Award winner 2021
Exhibit : Hi-no-Yojin (fire prevention in Japan)
Boxes of matches used to be a familiar printed matter and were regarded fondly by people. But as a throw-away object, their life tends to be short. I embrace their fate and continue to collect them as a record of our everyday life.
I have been collecting for 30 years (labels and skillets 50,000+).
My collection mainly focuses on Japanese labels for export matchboxes in the Meiji – Taisho era (1868 – 1926).
I am also interested in Japanese advertisement matchboxes used for pro-war propaganda produced just before Japan’s defeat in WWII.
Some of these labels are shown in the gallery below, click on an image to enlarge it.
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Member’s Award winner 2023 and 2024, President’s Award winner 2024
Exhibits : French matchbox labels (1830s – 1870s), Portefeuilles
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. Stéphane
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 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.
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President’s Award winner 2023
Exhibit : Extraordinary Matches
I collect many things but matchbox labels and related items hold my strongest interest. Having been involved in the hobby for more than fifty years I find myself particularly interested in the weird and wonderful and in this respect phillumeny doesn’t disappoint, I still find things that I would never even imagined could exist.
Over the years I’ve amassed collections from an eclectic range of subjects including postage stamps, revenue stamps, fiscal documents, embossed crests and monograms, post cards, cigarette cards, beer mats, dice, coins, bank notes, bullets, Magazine of Art Annuals, Majolica green leaf plates, Portmeirion Totem ware, Irish wade ceramics, Holkham Pottery mugs, custard cups, bottles, fossils, rocks and crystals, shells, exotic seed heads, taxidermy, carved ebony elephants, Japanese lacquer ware, plus many sundry items that draw my attention but are insufficient in number to be described as collections.
Top of the list as my main and most extensive collectable interest is matchbox labels and other match related items especially the obscure and unusual.
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The Phillumenist magazine ‘s tenth anniversary edition in 1950 included an article entitled “Our Average Reader”. Here’s what it said, which makes fascinating reading and an interesting comparison to today :
Our average reader is 38, has 10,828 different labels, and has collected abroad. He picks up boxes fresh to him in the street, also collects mint and damaged labels, and keeps ancient boxes intact. He started the hobby on his own initiative, keeps his labels hinged in albums by paper hinges, and classified by countries of manufacture. He calls himself a phillumenist, corresponds with collectors at home and abroad (chiefly Czechoslovakia), will reply quickly. He spends 5½ hours a week on the hobby, keeps his “Phillumenist” magazines, started collecting in 1936, and reads the magazine from page one. He has Cruse’s book, and has entertained a fellow collector at home. He has this magazine as far back a 1944, specialises in Swedish brands, has most labels of Sweden and rarely any from Russia.
We are pleased to announce that the London meetings at Sheen Lane Centre will be going ahead, starting on 3rd October. Sheen Lane Centre have informed us that they are compliant with all the necessary Covid regulations, and that our meetings can go ahead as planned.
Full details of all Society Events can be found on our Events page.
Committee’s Award winner 2023
Exhibit : The Portuguese presence in India
I have residency in Lisbon, Portugal but I am currently living in Växjo, Sweden.
I was born in 1955 and started collecting matchbox labels and matchbooks when I was about 4 years old. Knowing about my interest in the hobby some of the phillumenists in the city of Porto encouraged me with some interesting offers. The publication in 1962 of the first catalogue of matchbox labels in Portugal allowed me to properly organize my collection. The 2nd edition of the catalogue published in 1965 and the monthly edition of the magazine “Filumenismo” gave a great boost to my development as a phillumenist.
I went on to specialise in all the material related to Portugal or that circulated in the Portuguese market and its colonies, namely Macau. My collection of Italian matchboxes/panels that circulated in Portugal in the 19th Century is very significant and formed the basis of my Exhibit in 2021.
I am a founding partner of the APF – “Associação Portuguesa de Filumenismo” (founded in 1972), and currently its President.
I have published the following phillumenistic works, which can be purchased from APF :
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