The Swan Vestas story
Exhibitor : James Oxley-Brennan
This Exhibit tells the story of Swan Vestas, one of the world’s most recognisable matchbox brands.
Vesta is the Roman goddess of the Hearth, and the name “Vesta” was adopted by many match manufacturers in the 19th Century, specifically for matches with short stems which were used mainly by smokers.
Swan Vestas, 1883 to 1959
Swan Vestas was first trademarked by Collard & Co, Liverpool in 1883, who later became Collard & Kendall and were taken over by Diamond Match Company in 1895. Diamond then merged with Bryant & May in 1901.
My own Swan Vestas collection starts in 1909, when Bryant & May were operating factories in London and Liverpool. They opened the Maryhill factory in Glasgow in 1919.
These labels were affixed on card boxes. Bryant & May made a number of standard size boxes, and favoured the Number 12 (3 ⅛ x 1 ⅞ inches), Number 15 (6 ½ x 2 ⅛ inches) and Number 18 (6 ½ x 4 inches) size boxes for Swan. The matches were made of pine and had round stems.
It is interesting to see how the designs changed over time, as shown on these two No. 15 labels from the Fairfield Works, Bow from July 1931 and January 1938 respectively.
Of course, Bryant & May were always looking for new opportunities to sell their matches, and in 1930 created a match for female smokers known as “Dainty”.
Raw materials became scarce during the Second World War, and in order to conserve materials all fancy brands were withdrawn. Boxes and labels were marked “Use Matches Sparingly” to persuade the public to economise in their use of matches; this was introduced in 1941 and lasted for several years.
Bryant & May had increased the prices in 1940 : standard size boxes went up from 1d to 1½d, and Swan Vestas from 1½d to 3d.
The last significant change to occur, before the Swan changed direction in 1959, was in 1954. when the timber being used was changed from pine to poplar, and the matches became square instead of round.
Boxes were enclosed in dozen wrappers, then in half-gross and/or gross wrappers for shipping to the wholesalers. The gallery below shows some wrappers, click on an image to enlarge it.
Dozen wrapper, 1930
Dozen wrapper for No. 15 boxes, 1931
Half-gross wrapper for No. 12 boxes, 1931
Dozen wrapper for No. 12 boxes, 1934
Dozen wrapper from Glasgow factory, 1938
Dozen wrapper with change of design, 1955
Swan Vestas, 1959 to 1994
In 1959 there was a dramatic change, when the Swan image was turned to face the right. This new design should have been introduced in 1958 but was delayed for a year because the Directors were not happy with the first proposed image, the Swan having longer feathers. The new boxes came on the market in the autumn of 1959, price 4d.
On 15th October 1962 a press notice was published to the effect that the price of Swan Vestas would be raised from 4d to 5d, with increased average contents.
Skillets and decimalisation
Printed cardboard skillets were gradually introduced from June 1966, and became a permanent feature from 1967 onwards.
Decimal currency came into full effect on 15th February 1971, and the 5d boxes were replaced with 2p ones. In June 1971 the price was increased to 3p with average contents of 98.
With an increasing number of people shopping in supermarkets, Bryant & May introduced multi-box wrappers in the late 1960’s.
A new box design came in the 1990’s, aimed at younger consumers. The old-style dozen wrapper was discontinued and in its place came a carton containing 24 boxes, and shopkeepers were encouraged to place these prominently on their counters.
Bryant & May ran a number of promotions and competitions for Swan Vestas throughout this period in order to boost sales. Here is a poster from 1986, more are shown in the gallery below, click on an image to enlarge it.
For sale in the USA
1987 promotional poster
Competition poster 1988
Competition skillets 1988
Swan Vestas, 1994 to date
Swan Vestas were made in London until 1971, Gloucester until 1976, Glasgow until 1981, and Liverpool until 1994 when the Mersey Works factory closed. The entire Bryant & May portfolio was acquired by Swedish Match, the world’s largest match company, who still make Swan Vestas matches and other popular brands.
In the UK the Swan Vestas brand is now within the portfolio of Republic Technologies UK, the Society’s Patron, and the boxes are imported from Swedish Match. Despite this, I feel that it is still regarded with much affection by the British public.
One of the first promotional campaigns from Swedish Match was in 1995 when they gave away a ‘free’ Top 40 cassette if you collected 75 tokens, where each matchbox contained one token.
This campaign was scheduled to close on 30th November 1995 but many cassettes were still available so it was extended until 31st July 1996. Boxes from this extended period are much harder to find, but can be identified through details printed on the glue flap of the boxes.
Another popular campaign was for the football World Cup in 1998, where you had to find a blue-tip match in the box in order to claim a prize.
In order to help shopkeepers and to boost sales Swedish Match provided wall-mounted display units. These were supplied free-of-charge and were manufactured in Oadby, Leicestershire.
1999 saw another overhaul of the design, as this full-page advertisement from the Independent Retail News magazine on 15th January 1999 proclaims.
Swedish Match also sold cigarette papers and filters, and used the Swan Vestas boxes to advertise these products
125 years of Swan Vestas
2008 marked 125 years since Swan Vestas matches were first made, and to celebrate the anniversary Swedish Match issued two types of special matchboxes :
- boxes which showed old and new designs
- a “Strike Gold” promotion, to win £125,000
Up until 2018 Swan Vestas was a strike-anywhere match, which signified that it could be struck on any rough surface (although some export Swan boxes had already contained safety matches). Since 2018 Swan Vestas has been a safety brand, which can only be struck on the specially prepared surfaces on the box. Some of these boxes are shown in the gallery below, click on an image to enlarge it.
Strike Anywhere box, 2018
Strike Anywhere box, 2018
Safety Matches box, 2018
Safety Matches box, 2019
Safety Matches box, 2020