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.
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 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.
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!
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 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.
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
When I’m not collecting, I’m a carpenter, working on cultural-historical projects. I live in Stockholm, but mostly love being in our old house in the country.
I, like many others, collected matchboxes when I was a child in the 70s, and got together a pretty nice collection compared to my friends who also collected. I guess I was a little more involved, and I also had a mother that was a prominent collector. But everything was shut down for a long time, until one day I took the boxes out of the basement, back to the world.
Today I’m a diligent collector and hobby researcher in the field. My driving force is not to have a complete collection of anything, it is to find the stories that the labels tell, either in themselves, or as all together, and what they then show about their time. The labels are keyholes through which I can look at history, they are preserved time capsules.
For this year’s BMLBS exhibition, I have put together a contribution I call “Geography outside the box”. A story about odd places, about countries that have disappeared, that perhaps never existed, about countries that have been created, or just wanted to be. A journey around the world, outside the box.
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.
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 :
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; 3rd edition 2022
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, text in Portuguese)
Phillumeny records – Portuguese Phillumeny Exhibitions – 2022
Phillumeny records – Portuguese Phillumeny Catalogues and publications – 2022
Phillumeny records – Matchbox labels produced abroad to Portuguese speaking territories – 2023
Phillumeny records – Postcard in Phillumeny – 2023
Portuguese matchbook holders records – 2023
Matchbox holders (grips – slides – match safes) records – Portugal – 2023
Global addendum – Labels, skillets, matchbooks and their respective packet labels/packing papers – Addendum to different Portuguese catalogues – 2023 (co-author)
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.
I am a retired psychiatrist who has devoted retirement to making a series of self-published photobooks on whisky, Romania, walking and cheese making ! My lifelong matchbox collecting started at the age of 12 while waiting for a bus to go to school. My hobby is always in the background and it only takes an unusual box to ignite the fire! (not literally)
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.
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.
My name is Hans Everink, 62 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.
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 Siglufjörðurto 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.
Flor Millán Herrera is one of the foremost phillumenists in Spain, and along with her husband Javier has given huge support and encouragement to many collectors over the years.
Flor and Javier live in Zaragoza which is where Javier worked for the Spanish match company Fosforera Española. In a career of over 40 years, spent between Zaragoza and Madrid, they accumulated a vast knowledge of the way matches were designed, made and distributed throughout the Iberian peninsula and beyond. They hold an impressive archive of company documentation as well as an extensive collection of Spanish match box labels.
Javier is a huge admirer of Francisco de Goya and has a collection of over 4500 books concerning the works and life of the great Spanish painter.
Flor is extremely generous sharing her expertise and enthusiasm with other phillumenists and has contributed a number of articles to Match Label News in the last few years.
The BML&BS is delighted to welcome Flor as a guest exhibitor this year.
I was Born in Luton, Bedfordshire and attended Westminster College where I trained as a chef. My career allowed me to travel and work in 7 different countries before I emigrated to Canada in 1973. I worked in Jasper, Alberta in the Rockies for two years as well as Edmonton Alberta. I ended my career as a Professor at George Brown College in Toronto where I taught for 32 years. I retired 5 years ago and have been trying to catch up on my hobby ever since.
I initially got into collecting when I was a schoolboy. A family friend and neighbour worked in the employee canteen at the Electrolux Plant and nearly every day she would bring me bags and bags of discarded matchboxes home to sort for something to do during the school holidays. This certainly kept me occupied and began a life long interest. Over the years, my hobby has expanded into other areas which as well as Match Box Labels, includes Matchbooks, Vesta Boxes, Strikers, Match Crates as well as miscellaneous Match Ephemera etc.
My greatest interest is in Foreign Made Labels, Wartime Propaganda, of which I also have a collection of celluloid grips, British Royalty, Airlines, as well as old Canadian Matchboxes especially those with Tax Stamps.
As a child, I was a very early member of the Trans Canada Match Club and when I arrived in Toronto I decided to re-join as the meetings were held close to my home. I told Pat Griffiths, one of the original founding members and he gave me my old, original number back which was quite an early one. We still meet up from time to time to trade and discuss new finds locally, which sadly are dwindling, due to the decline here in Canada of the popularity of matches.
Now I have retired I have also joined the Rathkamp Matchcover Society in the USA who have a yearly convention. This year it is in Kentucky and I will be attending this with a friend who is also a collector.
I have a large circle of collectors I trade with via mail and would be more than happy to add anyone interested to this list.
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
Honorary Life Membership (International) Bangladesh Matchbox Collectors Club 2022
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, 2023 and 2024
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)
New Zealand Catalogue 2023
Numerous articles in the Observer, Match Label News & IMSA News
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.
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.
