flashbak.com /vintage-matchboxes-german-484977/

Collecting Vintage Matchboxes - 44 Gorgeous mid-Century German illustrations - Flashbak

Paul Sorene 2-2 minutes 9/6/2026

vintage matchboxes

These gorgeous images are from hundreds of vintage matchboxes collected by Shailesh Chavda, a British creative art director. Mainly European and Asian, here we enjoy items from those produced in mid-Century Germany.

“Most of the labels in this set are from the 1960s and 1970s,” he says. “Loosely inspired by Swiss and German modernism, the aim is to showcase the collection on this theme.”

vintage matchboxes

Anyone interested in matchboxes, matchbox labels, bookmatch covers and all types of match related items is into Phillumeny.

The word, derived from Greek phil (loving) and Latin lumen (light), was coined by the British collector Marjorie S. Evans in 1943. She later became president of the British Matchbox Label & Booklet Society, now renamed the British Matchbox Label and Bookmatch Society.

The next six German matchbook covers advertise the German Trade Union Confederation (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, or DGB), the largest umbrella organisation for trade unions in Germany, representing eight major individual member unions.

The four illustrations promote the idea that your life is better because unions exit.

german vintage matchbox

  german vintage matchbox   german vintage matchbox german vintage matchbox german vintage matchbox german vintage matchbox german vintage matchbox german vintage matchbox german vintage matchbox

Via: Shailesh Chavda in Flickr.