I am 74 years old and I collect matchbox labels from my youth. I started collecting labels issued for the Czechoslovak domestic market and later I continued with the Czechoslovak labels for export.
In the last 50 years I have been collecting all labels from the former Austro-Hungarian empire.
This hobby brings me great pleasure and I make friends with many collectors in my country as well as abroad. I am member of the British Matchbox Label and Bookmatch Society.
I am fortunate in that I cannot remember not being a collector of matchboxes and their labels. The fascination was probably started by having a pipe smoking father who consumed more matches than tobacco. I do remember being very regularly scolded by my mother for picking up used boxes in the street. For many years the collection was modest and it was when I was in my 20’s I discovered the British Matchbox Label and Booklet Society, met other collectors, realised the breadth of the hobby and learned to avoid the 2 classic tools of many uninformed collectors – scissors and the glue pot.
My particular interests have changed and developed over the 50 plus years of collecting with the prime focus now on boxes and labels from Norway and Sweden. Along the collecting route many smaller topics such as labels imported into the UK marked Foreign Made, Bryant and May promotional skillet boxes with a/c 23 and 26, match related ephemera, books about the hobby and match making along with many other aspects of the hobby have particularly taken my attention.
I have gained great value from meeting with other collectors and learnt through sharing knowledge and seeing what and how others collect and present their collections.
I started collecting matchboxes and labels in 1966. My aunt and uncle owned a tobacconist shop in Cornwall and I ‘worked’ there for them marking and delivering newspapers. This is where I first saw the Old Cornish Mine series of labels which fascinated me, and started a life-long interest in phillumeny.
Specialism – Spain
Since meeting the legendary collector and founder of the Cornish Match Company in 1971, David van der Plank, I have had a deep interest in Spanish Matchboxes and the history of the Spanish Match industry which began in 1836.
Gremio box, ca. 1895
My collection contains Spanish examples from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, and although the majority of these are labels I do have a good number of beautiful complete boxes.
Like most collectors I also have many examples from other countries, and prefer complete boxes wherever possible. I also always enjoy exchanging information with other collectors and learning new things about our wonderful hobby of phillumeny.
Publications and Web sites
I write regular articles for the Match Label News, which is the journal of the British Matchbox Label and Bookmatch Society.
I have also developed two web sites which focus on specific aspects of my collection :
Gross packet label, a few Spanish Inserts
The Old Cornish Mine web site describes the history of the series which first got me interested in collecting, and shows illustrations of all the labels known to have been issued www.old-Cornish-mines.co.uk
Spanish Matchbox Inserts (Fototipias) web site is dedicated to the history and beauty of the Insert cards which were issued in Spanish matchboxes between 1897 and 1910 www.inserts.org.uk
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 :
Catalogue of Portuguese Matchbox Labels. Edition 1992 (co-author, text in Portuguese):
Catalogue of Matchbox Labels – Companhia Portugueza de Phosphoros – Series – 1895-1926. 1st edition 2003; 2nd edition 2008; 3rd edition 2020
Catalogue of Matchbox Labels – Portugal – XIX century. 1st edition 2011; 2nd edition 2014; under publication 3rd edition
Catalogue of Italian Matchboxes imported by Portugal – XIX century. 1st edition 2013; under publication 2nd edition
Addendum to the Catalogue of Matchbox Labels – Macau – 2016 edition (co-author, text in Portuguese)
Advertising Skillets and Bookmatches List – Macau – 2016 (co-author) (texts in Portuguese)
I also have some phillumenistic works in development :
Catalogue of Matchboxes – XIX century – Portuguese factories manufacture and Italian matchboxes imported by Portugal
Phillumeny records – Matchbox labels produced abroad to Portuguese speaking territories
Phillumeny records – Postcards in Phillumeny
Phillumeny records – Portuguese Phillumeny Exhibitions
Portuguese matchbox holders (grips and slides) records
I started collecting matchcovers in England in 1948, with the purchase, for the princely sum of 15 shillings, of a collection made in India pre-1914, mainly of Swedish and Austrian labels. I was attracted by the outstanding artwork of many of the labels, and I still have all these labels in my collection, plus over 100,000 more.
I am fortunate that my work took me all over the world, and I now live in Melbourne, Australia.
“Average Contents 60” published in 2005
I have been a member of the BML&BS for almost 70 years, and the Australian Society for over 40. I have published the history of the Australian match industry, “Lighting Up Australia,” and two catalogues of former imports into Australia.
My book “Average Contents 60” is available from the Society Bookshop.
I also edited the Australian club magazine, the Observer, for 10 years, and am a frequent contributor to this and the British Match Label News.
Land of ice and fire – how I started collecting matchbox labels
When I started collecting matchboxes in 1962 or 1963 (10 – 11 years old) it was very common for boys in Siglufjörður to do so. Siglufjörður is a small town in northern Iceland that is surrounded by high mountains and in those years was only open to cars due to snow for about 4 months of the year. Other transport was by sea twice a week.
During the summer, a lot of life moved into the town because ships came there from Europe for the herring as well as other people from other parts of Iceland to work with the herring. The harbours were not fenced off and closed as they are today and we went on board every single ship that came to get matchboxes in exchange. I usually went with a few packets and offered an exchange, but usually opened the packages and exchanged 1 for 1 box.
Most of the boys kept their collection in boxes from biscuits or shoeboxes, and for me it was 2 or 3 drawers in a chest of drawers. The biscuit boxes and shoe boxes then often end up in the attic. When I got a little collection started my father saw that I was very interested in this. He was a fisherman on herring boats and trawlers, he started collecting with me and was soon in touch with a Danish woman who was a collector, he read an article she had written in a Danish book called Hvem Hvad Hvor. From her he obtained information about the BML & BS which we joined. When I was 19 years old, I moved to Reykjavík and set aside the collection for many years.
From time to time I flipped through the album collection when I came to visit my family home. About 20 years ago my father called me and said that now I had to come and take the collection, because he was starting to lose so much sight that he could not continue anymore. He wanted me to have the collection and take care of it but he was going to view the collection from time to time in a similar way as I had done. So I drove north with a trailer on the back of our car and picked it up. The collection is now 155 books of labels.
My collecting of bookmatches started, possibly, like other collectors did by collecting bookmatches that were free in various businesses. These were often found on the edges of ashtrays on bars, hotel reception desks and the like. I collected this way for many years until I read an article in the press that a meeting of phillumenists was being held in Croydon, Surrey. This was in 1995.
I attended the meeting and was amazed at the vast array and quantity of bookmatches, labels, skillets and ARTB’s. It was from this meeting that I decided to specialise in collecting only Bryant & May from the various factories/countries. I also made the decision to only collect complete, unstruck bookmatches.
I have been a member of the Society since then and President of the BML&BS since 2011.
It was 1960 when as a 9-year-old boy walking to school that I kicked over a matchbox in the gutter only to find that it had a picture on it (Brymay Birds & Animals issue) so took it to school, showed my mates and we started collecting. They soon lost interest and so I acquired their holdings to complete my set.
Article from “Observer” February 1970
I had a Great Aunt in the UK who also sent me labels and so my collection slowly grew. The labels were soaked off and pasted in an exercise book.
In 1967, I learnt of the existence of the Australian Match Cover Collectors Society (AMCCS) through a work colleague of my late father at Parker Brothers Bakery who took his son to the meetings. This was to be the start of a life-long passion for the hobby.
In 1970, this Profile was published in the AMCCS magazine, the Observer and yes, I did meet a “little Miss” marrying Dianne in 1977. Children followed in 1981 & 1983 and three grandsons in 2014, 2019 & 2020.
COMMITTEE SERVICE, ETC.
Secretary AMCCS (SA) 1984-1986
President AMCCS (SA) 1987 to present
Observer Editor May 1990 to February 1999
Life Membership AMCCS 2002
Observer Distributor since 2009
Annual Postal Auction Coordinator since 2009
Coordinator of National Match Exhibitions held in Adelaide in 1999, 2003, 2009, 2014, 2018, 2021 & 2022
Attendee & Trader at BML&BS Exhibitions held in 2000, 2005, 2009 & 2017
SPECIALISATION AREAS
Collecting areas for labels, booklets & skillets are Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea & South Africa. World-wide hardware produced by or for the match manufacturers together with any ephemera allied to the match industry, particularly picture postcards are also collected.
PUBLICATIONS & ARTICLES
Author of –
Duncan’s of Australia
E.L. Bell & Co, Australian Match Works & Commonwealth Match Works
Co-Author/Contributor to –
Bryant & May Australia Parts 1 & 2
Federal Match Company, Australia
Redheads Skillets
Plyfiber, Australia
The Cheapies (Imports to Australia)
Numerous articles in the Observer, Match Label News & IMSA News
Inspired by a friend who had just started to collect matchboxes, my collection started on the 7th April 1966, at the age of 14.
The initial collection, included matchboxes and cigarette packets. However, I soon decided to concentrate on matchboxes. Not only complete matchboxes, also the labels, bookmatch covers, match hardware, in fact any item connected to the match industry. My collection still remains a general collection, although I have a special interest in a number of subjects. These include Spanish (1840s-1950s), labels marked Foreign Made, and the brand Swan Vestas. I also have a deep interest in the older issues of countries such as Mexico, France, Italy, Cuba, and some Central & South American countries, as well as the older British matchboxes and labels.
In 1972, as part of my mechanical engineering studies at college, I was required to give a lecture to the other students. The research for this led to the discovery of the existence of the “British Matchbox Label & Booklet Society” (BML&BS), now known as the “British Matchbox Label & Bookmatch Society”, through two books written by Joan Rendell. I joined the BML&BS in October 1972 and have remained a member ever since.
My interest in phillumeny has allowed me to see some impressive collections by visiting many fellow collectors and attending meetings in a number of countries in Europe. This has enriched my life and I have gained many friends directly because of this hobby.
I have been part of the committee of the BML&BS since 1995, and from October 2006 I have been the Editor of the “Match Label News”, their magazine.
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.
Japan export to Europe, Meiji – Taisho era, 37 x 56 mm
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.
In 1955 there was a joint military base of the American-Spanish army in Torrejón de Ardoz, a town near Madrid. For senior military officials, the American army rented or bought (I don’t know exactly which) a hotel that was located very close to the house where I lived – the Hotel Balboa.
American Bookmatch for Hotel Balboa
I had to walk past this hotel every day on my way to the Institute where I was studying, and I started noticing and then collecting the matchboxes that the soldiers threw down on the ground when they had used all the matches. These boxes came from the supermarket inside the base which sold only American products.
Some Diamond Match Company bookmatches
This is how I started to acquire the wonderful series of “Circus Day”, “Homes of Great Americans”, “The Old West”, “American Folklore” and other examples from Diamond Match Company. Later, I naturally started collecting Spanish labels which became my specialism and passion, but always finding room for a few interesting items from other countries.
My book, Los Fabricantes de Cerillas
In 2018 I published “Los Fabricantes de Cerillas” a 2-volume illustrated book which describes the history of the Spanish Match Industry from 1834 to 1899 based on the archives of the Digital Newspaper Library of the National Library and the Historical Archive of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office.
At the moment I am preparing a Catalogue of the Manufacturers of Spanish matchboxes, although given the complexity of the subject and the difficulty of finding information about these manufacturers I realise that the Catalogue may never see the light of day.
I was propelled into collecting labels at the age of 12 when, leaning over a fence waiting for the school bus I set eyes on a box of Scottish Bluebell which attracted my attention (I was in Hampshire and this was a rare label to me probably dropped by a soldier, as it was an Army camp). My friend who was with me wanted it for his collection but I decided somewhat selfishly that it would make a good start to mine !!
I joined the BML&BS in 1970 and was a member for ten years, lapsing when I had a wife and children. I specialised in Eastern Europe and had many collector pen pals in The DDR, Czechoslovakia and Poland.
The hobby has never lost its allure and now that I am retired I am revisiting the fantastic archive which the collection had become. Every label carries a story and is like a time capsule to my childhood years.
Maybe with advancing years I will re-find the fascination that I used to have for this unusual hobby. Somewhat ironically I have lived in Scotland for half my life surrounded by more Scottish Bluebells than I would care to count.
Grandfather Alan Middleton joined the society in 1969 and son Mark and grandson Padraig joined 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.
I was introduced to the collecting of matchboxes, matchbooks, labels and more by a family friend who had worked in the Far East and who had a nice album of labels and skillets from Hong Kong that he would show me occasionally. Early on I fell into the same trap as many fledgling collectors with skillets thinned and trimmed; matchbooks bobtailed; and everything stuck into albums with rubber glue and Sellotape. So, 10 years in, my collection had to be thrown out and I started all over again!
In the intervening years I had come across a presentation pack from the Cornish Match obtained when I went to Cornwall on holiday; and learned of the existence of the British Matchbox Label and Booklet Society. A lifetime friendship with David Van Der Plank would later follow.
Three complete rare Indian matchboxes, from WIMCO
Initially I started collecting Indian labels because they were cheap, numerous in number and easy to purchase.
Slowly I branched out to other Asian countries though, somehow, I have never had the desire to collect labels from Japan or Sri Lanka (Ceylon).
Gradually I became more interested in researching matchbox history and making my findings available to other collectors.
Two pages from my book
I was in an advantageous situation as my daytime job as a computer support officer at the University of Liverpool allowed me access to research resources only available to academics. I then took night school classes in Mandarin Chinese so that I could understand labels bearing Chinese characters. A book followed (“Towards a Better Understanding of Chinese Matchbox Labels: A Beginners Guide to Translation”) and now that I have retired am working on updating and extending it.
Today I am as interested in researching the history of match manufacture as collecting matchbox labels!
I am Rupert Harris. I live a few miles from the old Moreland’s Match factory in Gloucester, England which Bryant & May acquired in 1913 and was closed in 1976. I have been collecting Bryant & May Hardware and Ephemera for over 40 years. My mother was a passionate collector and I very often accompanied her around the antiques shops, fairs and markets. At the tender age of ten she encouraged me not only to look out for items that may be of interest to her but also to follow her footsteps and become a collector myself; but of what?
The Moreland’s factory was a landmark that we often passed and was very visible especially at night. For many years including after the closure of the match factory, the neon signage above the main entrance gate continued to brighten the night sky. Still there today, it comprises a pair of crossed matches and went through an ongoing looped sequence of both brown wooden splints lighting up, then the two red match heads, which then both burst into a flickering flame before brief darkness and the repeat of the cycle.
Some brief research established that Gloucester had previously been the second largest manufacturing centre in the country behind London. The decision to become a phillumenist had been made and the collecting began. Within a year the wise decision, owing to budgetary restriction (pocket money, parent generosity) led to the narrowing of the collection to items bearing the words upon them of ‘Bryant & May’.
Harlequin Matches Third Edition
In 2008 I published a book about Bryant and May’s range of Harlequin Matches which is now in its third edition which adds in even more information about these fantastically colourful matchboxes.
Collecting for me is not something I choose to do it’s a compulsion, there are many topics that I find irresistibly interesting, 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, Portmerian Totem ware, Irish wade ceramics, Holkam 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.
Bryant & May matchbox dispensersSome curious striking tubes
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.
In 1968 while I was working in a jewellery shop in the Plaza de Chueca, Madrid, another apprentice who was there with me gave me a box of matches. It was “El Augusto”, a clown drawn only with geometric strokes by Cruz Novillo + Olmos. The box immediately caught my attention, and I decided there and then that I was going to collect them because I thought that no one else would collect them and that I was inventing a new hobby, and although it obviously wasn’t true that was how my collecting adventure began over 53 years ago.
Behind the Plaza de Chueca is Pelayo street where you could find a tobacconist’s kiosk, and on the outside of which was a vending machine which sold boxes of matches from Fósforos del Pirineo for 1 peseta each. Whenever I had any spare money I would buy boxes and quickly noticed that they all showed different characters, people and animals related to the circus, and I kept on buying them until I had collected all 20 different boxes in the Series. The tobacconist was still there in 2015, and although the vending machine is long gone I am lucky enough to now have one in my collection.
My first box (El Augusto)My first three Series : the Circus, Balloons and ABC animals, in their souvenir packaging Fósforos del Pirineo vending machine
I now specialise in collecting Spanish matchboxes and studying the Spanish matchbox industry.
Exhibit : Sir Adamjee – From a Match Trader to a Nation Builder
I have been a collector for over 30 years. My early interest involves numismatic and philatelic items.
About 8 years ago, I started to pursue phillumeny interest in earnest. Why? As a collector, I was looking for tantalizing factors of something being interesting, teasingly challenging, valuable, historically beneficial perhaps or artistically profound, with the bottom line being simply: satisfying and fun. Phillumeny satisfies all those criteria.
Some famous imported match labels of “Elephant & Cock” from Sweden by Paterson Simons & Co Ltd for use in Straits Settlements ( Straits) and Federated Malay States ( FMS) which are now Singapore and part of Peninsular Malaysia
My phillumeny collection is geographically focused towards anything Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia originated or related.
My name is Hans Everink, 60 years old and I live in the Netherlands.
My passion for matchbox labels started when I was a little boy from 10 years old. At that time I also collected stamps, cigarbands and many other items which you could collect for free. But after some years I stopped with a lot of these items and focused on collecting matchbox labels, matchboxes and matchcovers from all over the world.
When I became older I also started to visit general collector fairs and specialist collector fairs for meeting other collectors with the same hobby. I exchanged a lot with collectors in the Netherlands and also with foreign collectors by post and at international fairs, like Belgium or Germany.
A display of match holders
After years of collecting everything about matches, I now only collect matchbox labels from everywhere. I also have an extensive collection of match holders and have my own website dedicated to the hobby.
Born in San José, Costa Rica, in September 1964. I started collecting matchboxes and labels in 2016. I never collected anything in my life until in 2006 when I became “hooked” with revenue stamp collecting, a branch little known and even despised by traditional postal stamp collectors. As a lawyer and notary I fell in love with those fiscal stamps that are stuck to documents. Since then I have assembled a great collection from Costa Rica, exhibited internationally and written for multiple magazines, including for The Revenue Journal from The Revenue Society, of which I have been a member since 2008.
Tax stamp and Costa Rica matchbox label, 35 x 50 mm
When my collection from Costa Rica was almost complete, I became interested in tax stamps that do not adhere to documents but to objects, which are the rarest. These stamps are meant to be destroyed in the moment the bottle, cigarette pack, deck of playing cards or matchbox is opened, hence few survive.
I liked how the stamps looked on the labels and in some time I discovered this nice and peculiar hobby.
I quickly realized that it is impossible to collect “the whole world” so, in addition to the labels with tax stamps, I focused on Latin America countries, my favourites being Argentina, Cuba and Mexico.
I live in the city of Adelaide in South Australia and have been collecting now for over 40 years. It started for me when I would walk to primary school and would see any discarded matchboxes on the street. When my brother was hospitalized for asthma as a child my parents encouraged him to collect matchbox labels as well to pass the time.
My interest blossomed whereas my brother lost interest and I was also given my uncle’s collection which helped me with some older labels. My parents owning a delicatessen gave me an opportunity to get new additions plus my uncle in his travels would bring home matchboxes as well.
I joined the Australian Match Cover Collectors Society in 1982 after placing a question to the “What’s Your Problem” section of the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper and from there I gained a lot of knowledge and expanded my collection. In 2014 I was awarded Life Membership of the Society.
Two of my grips
Over the years I have diversified into advertising, match tins, and match strikers of which I have around 400. I also collect grips and have around 850 of them. I collect mainly from Australia, Great Britain, USA, Canada, Holland, New Zealand and Sweden. One of my recent interests is bookmatch and slimline series which are the subject of last year’s Exhibit.
In recent times with the pandemic, having a hobby has been a godsend. I hope you enjoy what I do and hope you enjoy my Exhibit.
My interest in matchbox labels began when I was eight or nine years old. My brother, aged fourteen, had a small collection of match box labels in a tin box, hidden in his cupboard. I ‘acquired the tin box’ and became a phillumenist !!
My collection grew over the years, many of the boxes were given to me by friends but mostly, I collected them from London pavements, from buses and trains and occasionally from bric-a-brac shops.
However, as I got older, although I always kept collecting, the collection was neglected and was stored away in bags, boxes and tins, they were everywhere.
I am now 89 and the match box labels are receiving attention at last.
Hello, This is Shakil Huq from Bangladesh. I am a matchbox collector and I have been collecting for a decade.
I’m a very passionate matchbox collector. I can’t think of a day without a matchbox. I design matchboxes as well, and have designed more than five hundred matchboxes to date.
I am 15 and have been collecting domesticated cat and dog match material for quite a few years.
Here I am holding the complete set of 40 inside the Fosforera Española presentation box. The lid reads Perros de Raza (translates to Breed Dogs) 40 Cajitas (Boxes) Fosforera Espanola SA – Made in Spain.
Hello, my name is Peter Pålsson and I collect matchbox labels and boxes from Sweden. Today I am just over 50 years old and my interest in match labels started already in junior high school almost 40 years ago.
One day when I visited a small antique shop to possibly find some coins for my newly started coin collection I instead found lots of colourful labels with animals, cars, flowers and more that turned out to be matchbox labels, the first labels I had seen up to that point. As a young student, my wallet was thin so I only bought a few that time but as soon as I had some money left over I visited the shop and in the end all the labels were mine.
For several years, the labels were left lying around (around 200 which I thought was an incredibly large collection) until by chance I came into contact with a collector in my own hometown Trollhättan. He showed me his collection and told me how big the Swedish match industry had been, and on that day I became a Phillumenist. In Croydon a few years later, I got to meet several collectors with whom I am today good friends, and I had the opportunity to buy labels that I had only seen in Arne Tejder’s catalog.
1840 wooden matchbox from Malmö, 66 × 41 × 19mm
The oldest box in my collection was made in Malmö around 1840.
In Sweden there is no pure match association but only the Nordstjärnan where you can collect everything, for me it felt a bit wrong, so in order for new and old Phillumenists around the world to be able to show off, ask questions, give answers or just see nice objects, I created a group on Facebook which I called Svenska Phillumenister and today it not only has an incredible amount of knowledge through its members but has also expanded to collectors of all of Scandinavia.
You can see lots of photos of my collection on my Instagram page @phillumeny.made.in.sweden
I was born in 1954 at Boston in Lincolnshire and have been collecting matchboxes & labels since the early 1960’s, when my Grandfather took me on walks around the local seaport – Boston Dock. This was instrumental in introducing me to matchboxes which were very often given to me (as presents) from crews on the visiting coasters. The many and varied nationalities were indeed a good source and in particular the Russian and Dutch ships proved to be a prolific supply of new items.
One such fleet worthy of mention is that of the Geest North Sea Line, where a group of 5 sister vessels made weekly calls into the Port, and this resulted in numerous bags and boxes of matchboxes being collected for my ever growing collection.
Having been invited onboard on several occasions this culminated in sea voyages to Holland and spending holidays with families in the Rotterdam area. Needless to say my collection of Dutch items increased significantly during the 1960’s decade.
In the following years my collection has now increased significantly to include worldwide labels and skillets and continues to grow month by month. I have a keen interest in Dutch issues together with Belgian, Australian, Russian, UK market such as Cornish Match, Matchmakers, Bryant and May, England’s Glory and really any other appealing origins.
I recall these are 2 of the earliest Russian labels given to me from a visiting coasterExamples of the first Dutch labels which had me wondering how many there may be in this set, especially as numbering bearing A, B, C, D & E prefixes were being acquired!Another Russian treasure acquired and followed by other images in the set
I am Anthony Harris, age 21 and have been collecting Road Transport match related items for over 10 years. All the phillumenists I have met have been supportive and I am particularly grateful to the encouragement and ongoing ‘gifts’ toward my collection that I receive from Ray Gustard, Tom Gibbard and Paul Dearie and of course my dad Rupert.
I am passionate about bicycles, motor bikes and cars, in fact all transport that travels on the road. I am a fully qualified vehicle mechanic and own a track race car as well as a road car. I have gone to many of the national race circuits of the UK as a mechanic for a racing car team that has cars in the British Touring Car Championship. When not working for Audi, I am very often fixing friends cars on my dad’s drive. It often looks more like a garage than a drive.
I’m Masud Ahmed, 55, from Bangladesh. I have been collecting match boxes and labels for the past 6 years besides my other collectable addictions. I am also a founder member of Bangladesh Matchbox Collectors Club (BMCC).
Beside my business I spend a lot of time in collecting items all around Bangladesh and the world. It is very fascinating to me to be in this hobby and to be able to share my passion with others.
I greatly enjoy sorting my collection and to make gorgeous albums to share with other like-minded collectors and for display in exhibitions.
I am Rashel Rahman, and I am a matchbox collector. I collect anything Scout related.
Some of my scouting items
I have been collecting for the last 25 years and am mainly a dedicated scout item collector. Right now in my collection I have about 15,000 scout items such as Badges, Scarfs, Woggles, Whistle, Compass, Belts etc.
Besides my scout collection I also have 1,000+ matchboxes and matchbooks, 20,000 stamps, 1,500 model cars, 3,000 books and 3,000+ coins.
I am general secretary of the Bangladesh Matchbox Collectors Club. Through this club we are trying to popularize matchbox collecting again in Bangladesh and the world.
I am very happy to participate in this Exhibition.
My name is Mohammad Jamal Uddin, I am a collector and work for a private Television channel as a news editor. I started my collection when I was seven years old, some stamps and coins from Saudi Arabs were my first collection. For the last 4 years I have been collecting matchboxes around the globe. I also collect Banknotes and coins.
It’s truly fascinating collecting matchboxes. I’d like to thank BML&BS for arranging such a great exhibition for the world matchbox collectors. I am very happy to be one of the participants here. Thank you.
