Kevin McCarthy (UK)

Exhibit : Japanese labels with Chinese flags

I started collecting matchboxes like many others of my generation. I certainly had some by the time I started my first school, despite the attempts of my mother to dissuade me from picking them up from the ground. But that was what you could do in those times! I could obtain some six to a dozen specimens (some admittedly in very poor condition) within a ten minute walk to the shops or school.

Over the years my interest in collecting matchbox labels has come and gone, but I seriously began collecting after school.

Despite attempting to “control” the sheer volume of my collection, it continued to grow, as did my interest in the stories behind the labels, the factories that made the matches, and researching the match industry throughout the world.

I was fortunate to meet with a fellow collector, Richard Tolson, and together we formed TM Labels, a joint collection.

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