Austro-Hungarian match industry
Exhibitor : Vladimír Steiner
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was a multi-national constitutional monarchy which existed in central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It consisted of two sovereign states with a single monarch known as both the Emperor of Austria and the Apostolic King of Hungary. The Empire was a major European power, was among the ten most populous countries worldwide, and had the fourth largest machine manufacturing industry in the world. Little surprise then that it had a vibrant Match Industry. The Empire was already effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3rd November 1918.
Match Industry
I have been collecting matchbox labels since my childhood. I started with Czech labels glued on the boxes, later I started sorting these labels according to a catalogue. In the last thirty five years my main hobby is collecting old labels from the period of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
My country, the Czech Republic, was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire up to 1918 and many famous matchbox factories existed there from the end of the 19th century and into the start of the 20th century. Some of them were large and are very well known, such as Scheinost and Fürth from Sušice, Meissner from Třešť, and Pollak from Prague. Other factories were smaller, such as Kohn from Horažďovice which was founded in 1878 and closed in 1899.
The table below summarises the key dates in these factories.
| Vojtěch Scheinost factory in Sušice | 1839 – 1843 and 1868 – 1903 |
| Bernard Fürth factory in Sušice | 1843 – 1903 |
| Mořic Meissner in Třešť | 1876 – 1906 |
| Between 1843-1868 Vojtěch Scheinost worked in the Fürth’s factory. When his new factory was built in 1868 he started to work there. | |
| Scheinost and Fürth sold their factories to join stock company SOLO in Vienna, Austria 1903 and Meissner in 1906. | |
Labels from various factories can be seen below. Many were used on cylindrical boxes exported to the Orient.
A Kohn labels
A Kohn labels
A Kohn label
A Kohn labels
A Kohn label
A Kohn labels, for the top of cylindrical boxes
Fürth labels
Fürth labels
Meissner label
Scheinost label
Scheinost labels
Scheinost labels
Bonus exhibit : Sets of Six
Some of the most beautiful labels from the period of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867 – 1918) are the so-called “Sets of Six” – mostly glazed coloured pictorial labels, dating from 1903 to1914.
In 1903 six of the biggest matchbox-factories in the Austro-Hungarian Empire established a joint-stock company SOLO with headquarters in Vienna, with the main aim to be stronger and to be able to compete against the Swedish concerns in markets such as India, Far East, Turkey, America, etc. “Sets of Six” together with high quality matches and boxes helped to increase export into these regions.
Below you can see three of these sets still in uncut blocks. An individual label would measure 33 x 50 mm. About 150 different Sets of Six are known.
Set of Six - Indian scenes
Set of Six - Indian scenes
Set of Six - Sport
Set of Six - Walking Ladies
Set of Six - Royal Scions
Set of Six - Roccoco
Set of Six - Stars of India
Set of Six - Renaissance
Set of Six - Brands