Phillumeny
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Phillumeny is the hobby of collecting different match-related items: matchboxes, matchbox labels, matchbooks, matchcovers, matchsafes, etc. Phillumenism is an archaic form arising from its early use from the mid 1940s into the 1950s; the internationally accepted word is phillumeny. 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.
This hobby was widespread before the computer age, and was at its peak from the 1960s to the 1980s. Use of the Internet, allowing enthusiasts scattered around the world to cooperate, seems to have raised the level of interest again.
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[edit] Phillumeny worldwide
In the Eastern bloc countries phillumeny was very much alive with the collaboration of the local matchbox manufacturers. The decline of phillumenism in the former Soviet Union was caused by the technology change in the production of matchboxes. Previously the boxes were made of wood with labels pasted onto them. This was replaced by cheaper cardboard boxes with pictures stamped directly onto the cardboard. This resulted in a significant deterioration of the quality of pictures and was accompanied with a decrease in diversity.
[edit] Famous phillumenists
In Japan, Teichi Yoshizawa was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's top phillumenist. In Portugal, Jose Manuel Pereira published a series of albums to catalog and display matchbox collections called "Phillalbum".
