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Phillumeny (also known as phillumenism) is the
hobby A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing Sport, sports, or pursu ...
of
collecting The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining items that are of interest to an individual ''collector''. Collections differ in a wide variety of respects, most obvio ...
different
match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...
-related items:
matchbox Phillumeny (also known as phillumenism) is the hobby of collecting different match-related items: matchboxes, matchbox labels, matchbooks, matchcovers, matchsafes, etc. Matchbox A matchbox is a box made of cardboard or thin wood and designe ...
es, matchbox labels,
matchbook A matchbook is a small paperboard folder (known as a matchcover) enclosing a quantity of matches and having a coarse striking surface on the exterior. The folder is opened to access the matches, which are attached in a comb-like arrangement a ...
s, matchcovers, matchsafes, etc.


Matchbox

A matchbox is a box made of
cardboard Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. The construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard which is made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light b ...
or thin
wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
and designed to hold
match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...
es. It usually has a coarse striking surface on one edge for lighting the matches contained inside.


Etymology

The word, derived from Greek phil-
oving Oving may refer to: *Oving, Buckinghamshire *Oving, West Sussex Oving is a small village, and civil and ecclesiastical parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. The village lies about east of the city of Chichester. The civil p ...
+ Latin lumen- ight was introduced by the British collector Marjorie S. Evans in 1943 (who later became president of the British Matchbox Label & Booklet Society, now renamed the British Matchbox Label and Bookmatch Society). A person who engages in phillumeny is a ''phillumenist''. These two forms have been adopted by many other languages, e.g., ''philuméniste'', ''fillumenista'', ''Filumenist'' and филуменист.


Phillumeny worldwide

Collecting of matchbox labels emerged together with matches. In some collections it is possible to find labels from chemical matches, produced from 1810 to 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
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.


Notable phillumenists

In
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, Teiichi Yoshizawa was listed in the
Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
as the world's top phillumenist. In
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, Jose Manuel Pereira published a series of albums to catalog and display matchbox collections called "Phillalbum".


See also

*
Collectable A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any Physical object, object regarded as being of value or interest to a collecting, collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types ...
*
Go-to-bed matchbox Go-to-bed or getting-into-bed matchboxes were a variety of match storage box popular in the mid-to-late 19th century. Relatively small, about 6 cm high, they were frequently made of metal of some kind, though sometimes of wood or ivory. Most inco ...
, another (more elaborate) form of matchbox *
Matchbook A matchbook is a small paperboard folder (known as a matchcover) enclosing a quantity of matches and having a coarse striking surface on the exterior. The folder is opened to access the matches, which are attached in a comb-like arrangement a ...
, another form of packaging for matches *
Numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...
, the study and collection of
coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...
s,
banknote A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...
s and other objects related to currency *
Philately Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is poss ...
, the study and collection of
postage stamps A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...
and other objects related to mail and postal services


References


Further reading

*Steele, H. Thomas; Hiemann, Jim; Dyer, Rod (1987). ''Close Cover Before Striking: The Golden Age of Matchbook Art'' NY: Abbeville Press,


External links

{{Sister project links , commonscat=Matchboxes , b=no , s=no , n=no , q=no , v=no , wikt=
Historical Phillumeny
- Russian language website on the history of phillumeny.
British Matchbox Label and Bookmatch SocietyGlossary of phillumenyThe Home of PhillumenyRussian and Soviet matchlabelsMatchbook Traveler
- Lists restaurants that have souvenir matchbooks.
Rathkamp Matchcover Society
Collecting Packaging Matches (firelighting)