Phillumeny - HS 030

HS 030

Norwegian Matchbox

Era: 1880's-1910's

Details: wooden construction

Well to make up for the lack of posts over the past two weeks, here is a very interesting and relatively new piece to the collection. If you are wondering what the title means, phillumeny is the collecting of matchboxes, so yep you've guessed it this is an antique matchbox. Now, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be too much information on these guys available online. I do know, however, that this is an old wooden matchbox made by the Norwegian Company Nitedals. Back then they were known as Impregnated Safety Matches. They were guaranteeing that they "Will NOT glow after being blown out," and feature that trademark 'running horse' logo.

Now, while the box features the Stockholm trademark date of 1866 and the Paris trademark of 1867, I've had some difficulty determining when this matchbox was made. I was able to find this somewhat useful matchbox label site, while I don't understand all of the words I can tell trough the pictures and the name TAENDSTIKFABRIK located directly on the box to determine the age of this specimen. So while I can't say with perfect certainty I'm fairly sure that the latest that this box was manufactured would be in 1912, but more realistically this was made somewhere in the late 1800's. A very interesting and well preserved piece to be sure. Also, there is a number "193." written in pencil on the cover which I'm fairly sure was used in labeling the box for storage purposes before I obtained it.