What is phylumenia? Definition, storage methods and photographs of collections

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

Philumenists appeared almost simultaneously with the first editions of products, some albums contain labels from chemical matches, even special periodicals were issued. After the Second World War, the number of fans of the hobby began to decline, but there are still communities of philumenists.

What is phylumenia: definition

Philumenia is a collection of matchboxes and everything connected with them. The etymology of the word goes back to the Greek "love" (philos) and "fire" (lumen). Phylumenia is like stamp collecting - incredibly addictive.

Many matchbox designs are unique and very interesting. Today, the image on the packaging is more of an advertising nature. The photo above shows an example of a campaign to promote their services by one of the companies that produce matches and other souvenirs.products. With the help of real samples of their work, Admatch clearly showed where a person can see ads placed on matches.

Although these boxes and phylumenia have little in common, all this for the time being. Someday there will be very few such packages left, and they may become rare. For example, in the USSR, entire collections of matchboxes were devoted to corn, advertising for life insurance, savings banks and the Moscow Zoo. Now these samples adorn the private collections of philumenists.

Who is fond of collecting

During the Second World War, a huge number of philumenist societies broke up. Currently, The British Matchbox Label & Booklet Society is considered the largest and most developed structure. The society brings together not only collectors from Britain and the countries of the former colonies, but also others around the world.

Philumenia continues to captivate people, although much less than before. An example of this is the Tian Xing family. Chinese Xing's fascination with matchboxes - phylumenia or in Chinese huohua - not only helped him open a successful business selling collectible paraphernalia, but was so strong that it "infected" his children and grandchildren.

Today, on the official website of the British Society of Philuminists, anyone can fill out an introductory form and become a member of the organization. The number of participants is at least 7 thousand people, the community producesperiodicals The Match Label News. Among the flags of the countries of the organization, the Russian one is also present on the main page.

How philumenists store their collections

Probably only stamp collectors - philatelists - can fully understand what phylumenia is. Both in the first and in the second case, one has to deal with very short-lived and fragile materials: paper and printing ink.

For philately, collection albums are common as a form of stamp storage. Matchboxes are stored in phylumenia in two ways:

1. Albums. The top of the box with the image is glued onto thick sheets of cardboard and sewn into a book.
2. Boxes. Sometimes the drawing is not so important. Some packages are valuable for their shape and method of opening, or even unusual matches. Then you need to store the whole box and the album is not suitable for this purpose.

Which boxes are considered valuable?

There is no distinguishing criteria for the value of a matchbox. Many people do not always understand what phylumenia is and sell rare packages at low prices. It should be noted that the cost of the boxes is comparable to the cost of coins and banknotes of the same time. Really rare and unique samples, usually dedicated to little-known historical events, are purchased by collectors for tens of thousands of rubles. In general, the supply market significantly exceeds the demand for matchboxes.

Match labels of the USSR

Collecting packages in Russia began even before the release of the first domestic products. Boxes were a kind of souvenir from long journeys. Now tourists bring magnets from their holidays, but then matches were fashionable.

By the First World War, phylumonia became very popular. Some collections numbered more than 1000 copies. But after the revolution, collecting, as such, was relegated to the category of "bourgeois" shameful entertainment. The revival of phylumonia began only in the 1960s, when the authorities introduced 6 types of "permitted collectibles": matchboxes, postage stamps, postcards, bookmarks, coins and bonds (ancient versions of bills and other monetary documents).

The collection of match labels (phylumenia) in the USSR was more of a propaganda character. In the clubs and sections of collectors, censor control was carried out over the semantic content of copies. It is no secret that in the United States of America it was very fashionable to print promotional matches for entertainment establishments, which, in the opinion of the Soviet authorities, spoiled the moral character of a person.

However, gradually the situation began to change. On matchboxes one could find not only slogans, but also public service announcements, and even traffic rules for pedestrians. A large collection of packages is dedicated to the space achievements of the USSR, nationalities and republics, anniversaries, Olympicgames and products.

At present, we can note the growing interest in phylumonia in our country. Special periodicals for collectors began to be printed again and the number of communities and meetings of amateurs began to grow. Many sociologists attribute this to the improvement in people's living standards in the 2000s.

Philumenia: photos of the most characteristic images

What images are most often found on matchboxes? Is there any pattern or rule in the choice of items and events displayed on the package?

Each country has its own reasons for pride and its own achievements. It is the drawings of the most familiar and understandable objects, events, phenomena or products for the people that can be called the most characteristic images found on matchboxes of different times.

This trend applies not only to the former Soviet republics, but, probably, to the rest of the world. Matches are an inconspicuous, but at the same time necessary item. No matter how many technical innovations were put into operation, "wooden sticks" for making fires are still used everywhere today.