This is a particularly decorative group with a great variety of period typography, illustrations and commercial branding, making it ideal for an established phillumeny collection or as a ready-made group of vintage advertising ephemera.
One of the standout pieces is the attractive Johnson Line box depicting the vessel Seattle, with the company's distinctive blue flag and yellow star emblem.
Other particularly appealing examples include the large Swedish Tre Stjärnor / Three Stars safety match box, the colourful The Ship safety match box marked Made in Sweden and the Dutch Molen Lucifers box with its classic windmill illustration.
Also represented are Bryant & May's Brymay Special Safety Matches, Swiss Schweizer Zündhölzer, Père Cygne, Sapolite and several further European advertising and safety-match designs.
Accompanying the boxes are 16 loose vintage matchbox labels in a wide variety of colourful designs, including commercial, pictorial and international examples.
The age, graphic design and international variety make this an especially attractive lot to display as a collection rather than simply a group of individual labels.
Everything shown in the photographs is included and the collection is offered together as one lot.
In mixed vintage condition with age and use-related wear throughout.
The boxes and labels show varying degrees of rubbing, creasing, staining, fading, edge and corner wear, marks and general handling consistent with their age.
Some examples naturally show considerably more wear than others, but the collection retains excellent vintage character and the colourful period artwork still displays very well as a group.
No attempt has been made to grade each individual box or label and the entire collection is offered as seen.
Please study all photographs carefully as these form an important part of the condition report and show exactly what is included.