On line Exhibitor

Joel Viana de Lemos (Portugal)

Exhibit : Portuguese Match Industry

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 On-line Exhibit in 2021.

I am a founding partner of the APF – “Associação Portuguesa de Filumenismo” (founded in 1972), and currently its President.

2023 publication, Postcards in Phillumeny

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; addendum 2025
  • 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; 2nd edition 2025
  • Catalogue of Matchboxes of Portuguese factories manufacture and Italian matchboxes imported by Portugal – XIX century – 2025
  • 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 – 1st edition 2023; 2nd edition 2025
  • 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)
  • Phillumeny records – Printed matter – Advertising – Press articles – Portugal – 2025 (co-author)
  • Catalogue of Macau Matchbox Labels – 2026 (co-author)

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Jesús María Bollo García (Spain)

Exhibit : Spanish Match Industry

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.

 

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.

My book, Los Fabricantes de Cerillas

 

 

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.

 

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Jerry Bell (Australia)

Exhibits : How a TV valve led to a lifetime’s hobby, Tōkaidō Road
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.

 

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James Oxley-Brennan (UK)

Exhibits : The Salvation Army Match Factory, Swan Vestas

My collection began in the early 1950’s with New Forest, a brand made in Belgium.

New Forest box label, 35 x 50 mm

We were living on the Hampshire/Dorset border, and my mother liked this box, with its label showing a deer and a sylvan background.

It was not long before she found another attractive box, and then another …..

We moved to Norfolk in 1955, when I was seven, and while at the village school I came across a shoebox full of empty matchboxes, most of which were new to me.

“Could I please have a few for my collection”, I asked.

Alpha box label, artb, 56 x 111 mm

They let me have some, and one which I remember well was “Alpha” from United Match Industries.

 

 

In the late 1960’s I visited an exhibition staged by the Norwich Phillumenists. This was my first experience of a group of like-minded enthusiasts, and I learnt what to do and what not to do – “never show a matchbox a pair of scissors” was the sound advice of Mrs Peggy Thompson. With her husband Fred and son Stephen she was the mainstay of the club.

Norwich club label, 1983

In October 1976 I joined the BML&BS and was enrolled by John Luker. My collection expanded, to take in hardware and ephemera, all helping to complete the picture. In June 1989 I became the Honorary Librarian, and am very happy to hold this post.

Today I concentrate on British material, and the former British brands from Republic Technologies UK, the Society’s Patron, especially Swan Vestas. I have never tried to make the biggest collection, preferring quality to quantity, deriving much enjoyment from my collection. Although I don’t have a computer I am pleased to have an Exhibit in our John Walker On-line Exhibition, an important milestone for the Society.

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Ian Macilwain (UK)

Exhibit : How the humble matchbox shaped my life

Scottish Bluebell label 50 x 112 mm, ca. 1961

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.

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Hans Everink (Netherlands)

Exhibit : Netherlands Match Industry

My name is Hans Everink, I was born in 1961 and 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.

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Flor Millán Herrera (Spain)

Exhibit :  A Salesman’s Samples

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.

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Fernán Pacheco (Costa Rica)

Exhibits : Argentinian Match Industry, Costa Rica Match Industry, Match Tax Stamps

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 that 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 and discovered the beauty of the old matchbox labels, started buying some, mainly Latin American countries. However, boxes with tax stamps combine both of my hobbies.

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.

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Ed Wright (Canada)

Exhibit : WWII propaganda bookmatches

Ed Wright (1947 – 2026) was born in Luton, Bedfordshire and attended Westminster College where he trained as a chef.  His career allowed him to travel and work in seven different countries before emigrating to Canada in 1973.  He worked in Jasper, Alberta in the Rockies for two years as well as Edmonton, Alberta and ended his career as a Professor at George Brown College in Toronto where he taught for 32 years.  After retiring in 2019 Ed was able to spend more time catching up on his hobby.

Ed initially got into collecting as a schoolboy. A family friend and neighbour worked in the employee canteen at the Electrolux Plant and nearly every day she would bring him bags and bags of discarded matchboxes to sort for something to do during the school holidays.  This certainly kept him occupied and began a life long interest.  Over the years, Ed’s hobby expanded into other areas such as Match Box Labels, Matchbooks, Vesta Boxes, Strikers, Match Crates and miscellaneous Match Ephemera.

His greatest interest was in Foreign Made Labels, Wartime Propaganda, British Royalty, Airlines, as well as old Canadian Matchboxes especially those with Tax Stamps.

As a child, Ed was a very early member of the Trans Canada Match Club and when he arrived in Toronto he decided to re-join as the meetings were held close to his home.  Ed told Pat Griffiths, one of the original founding members, and Pat gave him his old original number back which was quite an early one, and they used to meet up from time to time to trade and discuss new finds locally, which sadly had dwindled due to the decline in Canada of the popularity of matches.

After retiring Ed joined the Rathkamp Matchcover Society in the USA who hold a yearly convention and Ed attended many where he made friends willing to trade covers or boxes or information by post, as it was not always possible to go personally. Like many people, Ed found himself busier during retirement than when working.

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