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International Match Safe

Association and Museum

POCKET MATCH SAFES

Part I. Figural Match Safes

Karl P. Koenig

Silver Magazine, March/April, 2000

During their hundred year history (1840-1940) match safes were constructed in every conceivable material and combination of materials. They were ingeniously made in a spectacular variety of shapes and, occasionally, in conjunction with other functions (the subject of another article). The match safe’s vital and central purpose, however, has remained the same; the provision of a secure container for matches together with a striking surface. In the absence of a striker a small box is not validly called a match safe.

The first container for friction matches appeared some time after their invention in the 1830’s and commercial availability in stores soon thereafter. The exact date of invention is disputed but it is generally agreed that the inventor was a English chemist who was so indifferent to his invention that he failed to patent it. Friction matches caught on rapidly and were manufactured for the general public all over Europe and North America. The match was an important technical advance in its time, not unlike the electric light, the automobile or the personal computer in ours. A few hand-wringers have claimed the match was a mixed blessing because of diseases associated with its early chemistry and the unsurprising fact that arsonists found it easier to start a fire with a match than by striking flint and steel.

Friction matches were hazardous (they could explode in one’s pocket) so they required protection in a fire-proof container that could be easily carried. Early on many of these little cases became jewelry-like and masterfully made though the majority remained utilitarian and commercial. Similar to the evolution of the snuff box, the finest match safes were made from gold, silver or plate in designs characteristic of the period. The late Georgians, and even more so the Victorians, Edwardians, and the fanciers of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, loved the strike-anywhere-match and they constructed ingenious and beautiful boxes in which to keep them. As women picked up the smoking habit they, too, had an effect on the aesthetics of lighting devices.

When new lighting devices were invented, the match safe did not immediately disappear but went through certain alterations first. Safety matches (matches whose heads would not ignite without coming in contact with chemicals embedded in a roughened striker strip) had been around for years but became more popular when books of safety matches were introduced. Metal holders, for paper match books, the direct descendants of match safes, came into fashion but were seldom beautiful or clever. People preferred to carry the book by itself and discard it when empty, as they still do today. Decorative metal sleeves, called slides, were also being made for boxed matches. These included an opening to expose the chemical striking. They were intended for the table or bar but not the pocket. Neither type is pictured here. Liquid fuel lighters became popular around World War I and soon displaced matches to some extent and the match safe altogether. The fashion of carrying a match safe died slowly but certainly as their successors crowded in. The last traditional match safes were made in the 1930’s and must, by then, have been considered by younger smokers as hopelessly anachronistic. Today, outside of the antiques field, virtually no one even knows what a match safe is. When instructed in match safe lore, however, people have been known to exclaim along the lines, ‘that must be what uncle so and so left me and I have kept it in a bureau drawer.’ It is hard for us to imagine any other item in such widespread use across all social classes dropping so totally and abruptly out of sight and recollection. Yet this is the fate of the pocket match safe.

The use of match safes became utterly obsolete during the Second World War. For a long time afterwards they could be purchased for a song; even the finest ones. Many were tossed into metal drives for the war effort in England, Canada and America or melted down in the case of gold and silver when prices later on became so tempting. The Smithsonian Institution, via its Cooper-Hewitt Museum, published a 1981 pamphlet picturing a few high quality pieces from the Brenner Collection. The market was immediately electrified and prices began to rise. (The Cooper-Hewitt has re-issued this pamphlet with up-dated text and pictures and is available from the museum. Its author, unfortunately, does not respond to queries.)

Figural match safes are now among the most desirable objects to collectors. Witness recent Christies’ auctions devoted exclusively to match safes, check the internet auction listings, or visit a fine antiques dealer in gold and silver. A figural sentry box was auctioned recently for about $12,000 in London. ( See Figure 5-4 in this article for an example of the sentry box series made by Sampson Mordan and Co.) The Rule of Three works here as elsewhere in the world of antiques: the rarer the object, the more finely executed it is, and the better its condition, the costlier it will be.

Figural safes were meant to be amusing and novel. They served as ice breakers in conversation and untold numbers of cheap ones were made in common metals for commercial advertising. Although the finest safes were brilliantly executed, it is unlikely even they were intended at the time to be “art” with the possible exceptions of work by Carl Fabergé and a few other exceptional designer/silversmiths such as George Adam Scheidt of Austria and Sampson Mordan of London. The figurals here are grouped into three subsets but other categories might as easily have been employed.

Fig. 1-1 Boxing Glove Fig. 1-2 Skull with Snake

Fig. 1-3 Riding Boot Fig. 1-4 Fist

I Human Motif

Heads, hands and items of apparel appeared figurally in match safe form with great regularity before and after the turn of the 19th century. Hands often conveyed strength or intimacy. Certainly the boxing glove connotes strength, if not downright aggression (Figure 1-1). In Figure1-4 the slogan “In This You’ll Find A Match,” is a recurring pugnacious pun in several versions found on various match safes, figural and otherwise. Another hand (Figure 1-7) seems to defy the poisonous snake which encircles it.

Fig. 1-5 Giesha Fig. 1-6 Heart

Fig. 1-7 Hand with Snake Fig.1-8 Prince Albert/King Edward VII

The three human heads illustrated here are easily identified as Prince Albert,--later King Edward-- and hall marked 1887 (figure 1-8), a geisha (exquisitely wrought by a Japanese silversmith shown in Figure 1-5) and a gruesome fantasy skeleton in smoking jacket intertwined with a snake (Figure 1-2). The heart, always a popular theme in English pieces, is shown here with guilloché enameling, Birmingham hall marked 1894 (figure 1-6). A riding boot with Dutch hallmarks is shown in Figure 1-3. Boots and shoes and female legs were an enormously popular theme in match safes and seem to have been made in every country in every conceivable material.

Fig. 2-1 Alligator Fig. 2-2 Fish - Whistle Fig. 2-3 Toby

Fig. 2-4 Mussel Shell Fig. 2-5 Monkey Fig. 2-6 Fish

II Animals Motifs

Englishmen, Europeans, Americans, Japanese and the Chinese were equally and absolutely besotted with animals, pets and otherwise. Hundreds, more likely thousands, of match safe designs employing animal themes were manufactured during the match safe era. (See the Enamels article in Part II for further confirmation of this.) Figure 2-3 portrays the famous Toby who usually appears with Mr. Punch. (See also the enameled “Punch” magazine piece in Figure 3-1.) Other members of the animal kingdom are also illustrated. An American-made alligator, a fish (1891, Birmingham), a mussel shell from Gorham Co. with embossed monogram, a silver and gold plated monkey, and a splendid fish whose tail functions as a whistle--a device made and patented by Sampson Mordan in London, 1879 (see Figures 2-1 through 2-6).

Fig. 3-1 Punch Magazine Fig. 3-2 Packet & Matches

Fig. 3-3 Bollinger Champagne Fig. 3-4 Silver Ingot

III Inanimate Motifs

This includes a vast range of match safes. Some are concerned primarily with our indulgences, others with man’s edification, while others provide quirky amusement.

Figure 3-1 is the Punch magazine figural (London hall marked for 1878) mentioned above. Punch, the magazine, has been for a century and a half the source of impenetrable amusement to the British. An enameled Punch and Judy (as in the puppet show) match safe figural was sold at Christies’ in London for more than $10,000. Figure 3-2 seems to represent a wrapped up packet of tobacco or cigarettes because of the matches tucked under the wrapping string. The next is a wonderful piece of Tiffany silver-soldered work promoting Bollinger champagne (by the case). Last in the group is a silver ingot with the appropriate markings for the New York Assay office. It is detailed on the obverse with concentric ovals pools of “cooling” silver (American certainly, perhaps made by the Howard Sterling Co.).

Fig. 4-1 Car's Radiator Fig. 4-2 Cigar Box

Fig. 4-3 Ticket to the Races Fig. 4-4 White Star Flag

The group of images shown in Figures 4-1 to 4-4 illustrate a car’s radiator (with European marks), an enameled train ticket to the races, one of at least three different versions along this theme (made by Sampson Mordan, London, 1900), an exquisitely enameled box of Philippine cigars (German, late 19th Century), and a guilloché flag from the White Star Line (probably a favor for first class passengers).

Fig. 5-1 Artillery Shell Fig. 5-2 Scientific American

Fig 5-3 Pocket Watch Fig. 5-4 Sentry Box

In the next picture (5-1 to 5-4), the top right figure represents a rolled-up copy of Scientific American from 1907. These promotional items were made, sold and given away over a period of many years. The postmark and enameled color of the stamp changed accordingly. The pocket watch (Figure 5-3) is so realistic that people have been seen to attempt to check their own watches against it. It has been left open to remove the ambiguity. A later article will include a match safe with an actual watch built into it. The Highland Regiment soldier in a sentry box (London, 1893) is a highly collectible item from Sampson Mordan and Company. It is one of a series of soldiers representing different British regiments, each placed in a figural sentry box. The artillery shell is English, inscribed “With the compliments of Pinchon Johnson Co.” and made in 1915, Birmingham; presumably an advertisement for the then burgeoning armaments industry.

Fig. 6 Clockwise from top: Pneumatic Tool; Soccer Ball; Gold Cigar; Silver Plated Cigar; Cigar Case

Figures 6. At the top is a silver-plated advertising figural. It represents a pneumatic device, perhaps a jack-hammer. It is American and reads “The Boyer” on one side, “Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co.” on the other. The soccer ball was assayed in Birmingham, 1905. Sport was a popular theme in match safes and today they are highly prized by collectors. Then, there are three safes dealing with cigar smoking. The left-most one is a cigar case figural, Chester 1906, with fine engraving. The gold cigar is thought by many to be Tiffany-made, but there are no identifying marks. Neither are there maker marks on the silver plated cigar at the bottom, also reputed to be from Tiffany’s. Note the dental indentations at the smoked end. The strikers on both match safes are on the ash end.

Annotated Bibliography

Alsford, Denis B. Match Holders: 100 Years of Ingenuity. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. Atglen, Pennsylvania. 1994. Serious collectors need this volume for its extensive and well researched data about patents, designs, and manufacturing techniques. Alsford offers more technical information about match safes than anyone else.

Fresco-Corbu, Roger. Vesta Boxes. Antique Pocket Guides. Lutterworth Press. Guildsford, Surrey. 1983. This wonderful little book ranges over a wide variety of match safes. The author concentrates on those of English manufacture and is knowledgeable about them. It is still occasionally available in UK antiques shops.

Antonelli, John. Matchsafes. Cases that Store and Strike a Light. The Encyclopedia of collectibles: Matchsafes to Nursing bottles. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1979 pp. 6-17 A short but well-written article served many American collectors as an introduction to the field of match safes. The author remains an active collector and continues his scholarly investigation of match safes.

Sullivan, Audrey G. A History of Match Safes in the United States. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida: Riverside Press, 1978. This is a cheaply printed book by an author who long ago lost interest in her subject (personal communication). Still, the book is of some value to collectors because of its early date and usually accurate information regarding American match safes. The photographic reproductions are appallingly bad.

Cooper-Hewitt Museum. Matchsafes in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. Smithsonian Institution. 1981. This nicely printed pamphlet was responsible for enlivening the antiques trade in match safes in the 1980’s. The actual Brenner Collection, held by the Cooper-Hewitt in New York City, is an important one but difficult (read: impossible) for “unconnected” people to view. The collection is deep-sixed somewhere in the basement and only rarely do fragments appear for public viewing.

Sanders, W.E. and Sanders, C.C. Pocket Matchsafes: Reflections of Life and Art, 1840-1920. Schiffer Publishing Ltd.Atglen, Pennsylvania, 1997. This recent book fails in some respects. It was intended as a “Value guide” but the prices are grossly incorrect. It is also larded with factual errors. The photographs of the collection (recently sold) are interesting but poorly printed. Note that even the title is incorrect. Match safe is two words by vote of the International Match Safe Association, not one. The English avoid this confusion by them vesta boxes or vesta cases, or simply, vestas after the original Wax Vesta Matches.

International Match Safe Association Newsletter. Published quarterly. Julie Loftin, Editor. PO box 3901, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359. 818-887-2688 or matchsafer@aol.com An essential resource for students, dealers and collectors of match safes. Articles in this new journal concentrate on the design of match safes contain information about conventions, sales, and so forth.

"This article was first published in Silver Magazine, March/April 2000. Reprinted with permission."