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For many years, single-top labels were the most popular type of label to collect, especially among British collectors.The range of beautiful, interesting and amazing graphic design and artistry on many of these matchboxes and containers is a delight. Is it matchbox labels or bookmatch covers? Is it hardware or literature? Do they prefer Chinese designs or European? Or buying only Swedish matchboxes? Or, like Alan, Spanish matchbox labels and inserts. The hobby is so vast that new collectors have to decide eventually what interests them most and in what area they wish to specialise. Some matchboxes are bought and sold for many hundreds of pounds and whole collections can be worth many thousands of pounds. The sides of the outer sleeve were coated with a striking surface containing red phosphorus.Īlexander Lagerman worked at the Jönköping safety match factory and built firstly a box-filling machine and then a complete machine which revolutionised safety match manufacturing. This type of packaging is still being used today and consists of a sliding-drawer inner box and an outer sleeve. In 1844, two Swedish brothers, Edvard and Carl Frans Lundström designed a practical form of packaging safety matches in their factory in Jönköping, Sweden. Both matches and match cartons were made by hand.
Match book collector how to#
Most of the early match packages were either very simple capsules or tubes of shavings with factory labels with the word ‘Tändstickor’ (Matches) and giving possibly the address of the manufacturer or instructions on how to use the matches. History of Matchboxes and Matchbooks Old Swedish matchbox and matches ca.
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He made several prototypes in 1826 but the first one to be recorded in his sales ledger was in 1827. The British Matchbox Label and Bookmatch Society, however, hold up John Walker, a pharmacist from Stockton-on-Tees, to be the inventor of the first type of modern match, known as a friction match. Notable figures include Hennig Brandt, Jean Chancel, Samuel Jones, Charles Sauria and Gustaf Erik Pasch. Matches to make fire was not really invented, it was more a progression of small steps towards what we have today. Alan’s interest doesn’t stop there, as he collects anything connected to the ‘match’ and the match industry worldwide. The actual name for his hobby (collecting different match-related items: matchboxes, matchbox labels, insert cards, matchbooks, matchcovers, matchsafes, etc.) is Phillumeny (derived from the Greek phil and the Latin lumen – ) and Alan, as a collector, is a Phillumenist.Īlan has an extensive collection and he has travelled to Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Belgium and France, to view other people’s collections, visit match factories and museums and attend collectors’ meetings to swap and buy or sell privately or by auction.Īlan specialises in Spanish matchboxes he became interested in this area through our grandmother’s trips there when she brought back these pretty matchboxes with their wax matches inside. When Alex told us the next word was to be ‘match’, I thought this was a gift of a word for me as my brother, Alan, has collected matchboxes since he was about 14 years of age when he was introduced to the hobby by a school friend.Īlan is a well-regarded member of the non-profit making British Matchbox Label and Bookmatch Society, which was founded in 1945, and includes both UK and overseas members. This story was written in June 2020 by Mary from Surrey as part of a creative writing project with the subject of “match”.