Matchbox Labels Sets

These set pieces are part of a bigger collection, which have been displayed in multiple high-level national exhibitions during 1980s.

Considering that set pieces were prepared specially for thematic exhibitions, their design corresponds with that particular exhibition. That is, they are displayed (glued on) a A4 size sheet of paper, which reflects design tendencies and possibilities of that time period.

Phillumeny (also known as Phillumenism) is the hobby of collecting different match-related items: matchboxes, matchbox labels, matchbooks, matchcovers, matchsafes, etc.

Collecting of matchbox labels emerged together with matches. In some collections it is possible to find labels from chemical matches, produced in 1810—1815—long before the modern matches arrived. Quite often people who went abroad brought back matchboxes as souvenirs from other countries. After World War II a lot of match factories worked in close contact with local phillumenists, issuing special non-advertising sets. The hobby became especially widespread from the 1960s through the 1980s. Widespread introduction of bulky (for collectors) cardboard matchboxes with less distinct images on them, much poorer quality of print and, also some social phenomena, made this hobby (like many others, not connected with commerce) much less engaged.