STRIKE A LIGHT!

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 207, 2 September 1939, Page 17 (Supplement)

STRIKE A LIGHT!

/COLLECTING match box labels may one day be as popular as collecting postage stamps and cigarette cards. Already label clubs are springing up. Britain's label is the youngest, but it has already had two rallies, at which many thousands of match box labels, derived from every civilised land, were exhibited. Believe it or not. but one man—Dr. Radgens, of the U.S.A.-has collected 00,000 specimens! Mrs. Marjorie S. Evans, of Kingston Hill, Surrey, and President of the British Society of

By--Louis Katin

Match-box Label Collectors, runs him a good second with .'{•>,(100. Mr. S. H. Toole, .secretary of the society, has, I along with several other members, a mere 20,000. There are, it is estimated, altogether 100.000 varieties in tile world. How do collectors get their thousands of specimens? "Labelisni" is not vet run on organised commercial lines, like philately. Kach lubelist ha* to find his own .ways of adding to his collection. He writes to the manufacturers. He peei s into the gutters for dropped boxes. He advertises in the newspapers. He badgers his friends to bring back matchboxes from their tours abroad. If lie is rich he may. like the eccentric couple in tile Anatole France novel, roam the whole world looking for matchboxes ! Sailors are the most fruitful source of foreign match boxes. Retired army i officers, who have seen service in many parts of the world, settle down with tile nucleus of a collection and take Teat pride in adding to it. ° "Swopping" of labels is the stand-by of hobbyists. Britain's Society of Collectors has members in the U.S.A. and Holland. Collectors in these and other countries interchange with collectors in the British Isles. Women, though they do not collect cigarette cards. <i (> collect match boxes. ' lle 3 r "lake enthusiastic labelists. To - Irs. Marjorie Evans, already mentioned, belongs the honour of *ownin<» the world's oldest-known label. It was issued as far back as 1790, when the modern safety lucifer was not yet created. " Another lady. Mrs. J. E. Carter, of Alexander Park Road, Manchester, helped her husband win a bet. He started the hobby with a wager that he would get together a thousand different labels within six weeks. With the aid of his wife he won his wager by a lon«r neck. Now, with specimens from a score of lands, he and his wife form a redoubtable partnership. A matrimonial match in more than one sense 1 Like postage stamps, match box labels leveal much about native history and social life. Match exporters take care to study the customs of the countrv they supply, and produce many attractive designs. Dozens of languages, including Hebrew, Hindustani and Arabic, are used on labels. Occasionally the design achieves considerable beauty, aft with an American label which shows a peacock printed in seven colours on glazed* card. Rarely are more than two colours used. Labels can have political significance too. Alexander Powell, in his book, Free Lance." tells of a box of matches he saw on Mussolini's table. "Printed," he Elites, 'in startling letters across the box-co\er of red, white and green (the national colours of Italy) was the single word "Italianissima." Which, when you stop to think about it, has about the same Chauvinistic significance as "Deutscliland über Alles." A rare Central European label, issued K'tween .'SO and 40 years ago, is of special interest to-day, for on it is printed a map of the territory which the Czechs claimed when they were agitating against the Austrian Empire. E\en the Jewish National Home in Palestine is represented by its own match-box labels. These bear a picturesque design of palm-trees at Acre, where a Jewish match manufacturing company has set up—the only such factory in Palestine. Legends, nursery rhymes, current historical events are all portrayed 011 match-box labels. Those commemorating 1 the coronation of Edward VII are lie- j coming rare, and the labels issued for Oeorge "VTs coronation are being treasured up. If the hobby is popularised, there is no doubt, but that a number of specimens will be worth money. Hence torn labels are as worthless as torn stamps. Steaming and soaking in hot water are the methods used to I'art the labels from the wood. They are then mounted on stout single sheets of paper, which are kept together by steel rods pushed through marginal punch-holes. Book-matches, by the way, are not "recognised" as specimens. An exception is made in the case of a set of "Cries of Okie London," issued by a firm of restaurateurs. Tt would be impossible to keep pace with the new specimens added almost every day. Match manufacturers and wholesalers print special labels gratis I for shops, hotels, and restaurants if I given a fairly substantial order. Tn I Japan, even brothels have their own dis- ] R tinctive match-box labels! Often these | B bear a map showing the purchaser how to get to the place advertised. If the hobby of collecting match-box! labels becomes really widespread, manufacturers may issue different series to encourage extra sales. Enthusiasts should now get busy finding a really good name for their quaint hobby.