Phillumeny is the hobby of collecting matchboxes, matchbox labels, matchbooks, matchbook covers, and other items match-related. The main draw of phillumeny is the artwork on the boxes, covers, and labels. The hobby can be educational in the areas of geography, history, business, politics, and culture.

Graphical and typographical designs on matchboxes saw use in advertising, propaganda, and even in espionage. The artwork registers inventions, events, fashions, and many other topics. Due to the immensity of the variety of themes of labels and covers, unless the collector takes a purely random approach, the phillumenist should specialize on a theme in order to give the project direction. Phillumeny grew in popularity from the 1960s into the 1980s. Some manufacturers produced themed series which can be collected to create complete sets.

English chemist and apothecary John Walker created a friction match in 1826. He marketed the matches in a small way under the name “Congreves.” Gustaf Erik Pasch developed the safety match in Sweden in 1844. Johan Edvard Lundstrom, another Swede, created an improved safety match in 1850–55. By impregnating the sandpaper on the side of the matchbox with red phosphorous, and the match heads with the other substances required for ignition, the matches needed to be struck against the box to light, thus introducing a safety factor.

The Swedish match industry became enormous, outstripping match production in Britain. The Swedish matchbox labels set the standard which most other manufacturers emulated. Jönköping, beside Lake Vättern in Sweden, was the center of the Swedish safety match industry. Today there is a match museum in Jönköping.

The late Tony Gallaher, former editor of Match Label News, the publication of the British Matchbox Label and Bookmatch Society, set down in a series of articles a beginner’s guide to phillumeny. To summarize Gallaher’s guide:

• A single-top label is the type adhered to the top of a matchbox which you can usually easily remove. The collector may store labels in display books rather like stamp albums. The single-top label was the most common type used in Britain some years ago, but is rarely made today.

• You can collect entire matchboxes, sometimes with original matches inside. Some noted brands are Congreves, Vestas, Bengal Matches, Fusees, and Vesuvians. Vintage or antique matchboxes complete with matches are rare and can be expensive, and you’ll mainly see them in museums. Of course collecting the entire boxes takes up more space than does storing just labels and covers, and hording matches in your home is a serious potential danger which can be hazardous to life and limb.

• An all-round label, or ARTB (all round the box), wraps around the matchbox. This type was used on some British matchboxes from the 1830s to the latter 1970s. If removing an all-round label for collecting, please never cut it; keep it whole, or its collecting value will plummet.

• The skillet-type matchbox replaced the ARTB. The skillet, for the most part the only kind now made, likewise has a label going around the box, but it is printed directly onto the container. In this case you must of course collect and store the entire matchbox. Though not as coveted by phillumenists as are labels, skillets should also never be cut. With the tray removed, you can carefully flatten the box for insertion into an album, but this must be done in a certain manner in order to preserve its value.

• Packet-sized labels are those used on boxes containing 12 or more individual matchboxes. Though not as popular to collectors as are matchbox labels because of their scarcity and less convenient larger size, they can be valuable. There are also gross-size labels, which were adhered to boxes containing 144 matchboxes.

• A matchbook depleted of its matches leaves the matchbook cover left for the collector to retrieve. These are especially popular with American phillumenists. Some collect matchbook covers only; others both labels and covers, and some collect anything match-related.

Themes of matchbox labels to consider when collecting include ships, animals, plants, vehicles, pubs, inns, hotels, cafés, ale or beer, threes (the word “three” must appear on the label), flags, militaria, and countries. The categories of course can be broken down into specialties or subgroups: “Vehicles” can comprise cars, tractors, aircraft, trains, buses, ships, spacecraft, etc. “Animals” can break down to fish, birds, or specific animals such as elephants. “Countries” can be reduced to a certain region or continent, or to a particular country. “Plants” can include flowers, trees, and shrubs.

More themes are folklore, airlines, castles, angling, famous buildings, dogs, horses, monarchs, cathedrals, railway engines, bicycles, coffee brands, famous paintings, ethnic dress, umbrellas, sea horses, radios, pirates, palm trees, mermaids, knights, flamingos, giants, ghosts, clowns, cowboys, carousels, monkeys, sports, twos, and airports. As you can see, the variety of themes available is colossal. The budding phillumenist should be able to carve a niche out of this mountain of possibilities, and follow a certain line of interest. Some collectors, for instance, specialize in labels from a certain period in time, such as the World War II era.

Phillumeny is an affordable hobby, as many individual vintage matchbox labels for $1. Likewise, vintage single matchbook covers can be had for a dollar or two. The market is broad and active, and there are quite a few collecting clubs worldwide. Here follow some examples of various recent auction results:

A lot of seven 1960s labels of various themes from Czechoslovakia sold for $20. A vintage Australian set of 64 labels depicting wildflowers auctioned for $60. From The Netherlands, a set of 25 labels portraying Fiat cars from 1963–69 went for $6. A set of 18 Cornish Match labels in a vintage vehicles series sold for $2. A lot of 19 vintage Russian aerospace-themed labels auctioned for $6. One Guatemalan label portraying a turbaned xylophone player fetched more than $20. A lot of 60 Yugoslavian labels in a traffic signs series went for $17.50. Finally, one Real Swedish Paraffin Matches label depicting an elephant auctioned for $5.

Whatever your interests, you’re sure to find phillumeny themes to “match” them!