I collect objects and information related to specific areas of interest, where innovation in fire making is concerned. After fifty years being engaged with the subject, in a very broad sense, my focus has settled on innovations created during the age of enlightenment, and until the beginning of the twentieth century.
Some of my lighters
My collection has evolved as knowledge and opportunities emerged. Information and new examples have connected enough evidence to say that a better understanding of the industry that developed and what impacts took place, as a result.
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.
My name is Stefan Joset, I am 65 years old and already retired. I live in Switzerland in a village near Basel, where I grew up. I have been a collector for as long as I can remember. It started with postage stamps, collected all advertising art from banana labels to beer mats and over the years it has all taken up way too much space. That’s why I reduced my collections and now specialize only in Swiss matchbooks, Swiss chocolate wrappers and Liebig pictures (trade cards).
Here are a few examples of Liebig pictures and chocolate wrappers (more information on the chocolate wrappers can be found here).
In my free time, I am still in charge of the Swiss Match Museum and mainly take care of sorting, archiving and cataloguing our collection and exhibits. In addition, I take care of the homepage and organize the international exhibition Phillonex every year.
I really like the variety and rich colours of the Swiss bookmatches, which are decorated with a local animal, the chamois. For decades, this trademark was emblazoned on the products of our then largest match factory in Switzerland.
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 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 have imagined could exist.
T B Industries type holder (140 x 50 x 50 mm)
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.
Bryant & May matchbox dispensers (530 x 65 x 60 mm and 530 x 95 x 60 mm)Some curious striking tubes (58 x 38 x 25 mm)A match striker (150 x 80 x 110 mm)
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.
I started collecting match covers in England in 1948 and joined the BML&BS in 1952. I have collected continuously since then, I am particularly fortunate that my work took me all over the world, and I now live in Melbourne, Australia, where I have been a member of the Australian Society for over 40 years.
I have written the history of the Australian Match Industry, “Lighting Up Australia”, and the second edition of this has just been published. I have also authored two catalogues on early labels imported into Australia and Neighbouring Countries, “Average Contents 60” and “Historical Notes on 19th and early 20th Century Matchbox Labels and Cinderellas for Australia, New Zealand and Neighbouring Countries”.
Lighting Up Australia, second edition
My book and both catalogues are available from the Australian Society, and “Average Contents 60” is available from the British 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.
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 have been a collector for many years where Phillumeny is one of my passionate hobbies. My area of collection is largely focused on phillumeny items originated or related to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Myanmar.
The hobby is tantalisingly challenged as there is no structured information or official references available for this part of the world. However, “searching blind” is half the fun and very rewarding indeed particularly when able to find a rare or previously unknown label.
I intend to accumulate enough labels to produce a booklet on my match collection to share with other enthusiasts as a general form of basic reference to phillumenist and aspiring hobbyists alike. Some of my accumulations are currently shared on my Facebook pages for Phillumeny Malaysia, Phillumeny Singapore and Phillumeny Indonesia.
Besides Phillumeny, I am a life member of the Malaysia Numismatic Society, specialising in local malay sultanate coins as well as being a “nusantara” / “malay archipelago” antique collector.
As for Phillumeny, I believe that each of these tiny art labels and vintage match brands have their own special history…they all have a story to tell. Reliving them is truly meaningful and impactful to the hobby.
My name is Al-Razee Anonnya, but I’m much known to the matchbox collectors as “Robert Burns”, a nickname that has been stuck to me over the years. I have been an ardent follower of Robert Burns, one of the finest poets from the Romantic era of English literature from my childhood and that’s why my family members and near and dear ones named me “Robert Burns” which later became my nickname.
I have been collecting from March, 2018. I collect anything related to matchboxes. Right now, I have over 12,000 different matchboxes and over 18,000 different labels. I come from Bangladesh.
We have an international organization for matchbox collectors in Bangladesh which is the Bangladesh Matchbox Collectors’ Club (BMCC). I’m working as the joint general secretary there. I have the highest number of matchbox labels in my collection in Bangladesh. From BMCC, we publish souvenir matchboxes frequently on different topics. I’m a part of the team which orchestrates that event. I usually provide ideas on different topics and write miniature histories on those topics which are depicted on the back surface of the matchbox.
I joined the BML&BS in 1969 and attend most of the London meetings. My son Mark and grandson Padraig followed suit and joined the society in 2021.
My main interests these days are mainly old pre-1946 labels printed in English from all countries for sale in the UK. Also collect worldwide themes ‘WW1 & WW2 Propaganda’ and Royalty’ labels. I also think it is my duty to collect old labels and bookmatch covers from the area where I live in Teesside, North East England to preserve them as a record for future generations. Too much history of local businesses has been lost forever and we should do our bit to redress the balance in our match collections.
I particularly enjoy researching British factories and importers 1918-1939 as the labels are still reasonably priced and, most importantly, obtainable!
Published 2018
Many of my articles have been published in the Society magazine, and more recently in 2020 have updated my book in colour of the ‘North of England Match Co. West Hartlepool’.
I am currently part of the group of our Society collectors researching John Walker for the 200th Anniversary Exhibition of his invention of the friction match to be held in Preston Park Museum, Stockton-on-Tees in 2026.
