MATCH SAFE SCHOLAR

A website maintained by Neil Shapiro to study, evaluate, appraise, and enjoy match safes, vestas, and match holders.

PUBLISHED WORKS

Books and articles by Neil Shapiro. The articles are available to read on this website and the books may be purchased directly from Neil Shapiro or from the International Match Safe Association (http://www.matchsafe.org).

ALL RIGHTS FOR COMMERCIAL USE ARE RESERVED. PERMISSION FOR NON-COMMERCIAL USE MAY BE OBTAINED BY CONTACTING NEIL SHAPIRO


ARTICLES

American Match Safes

European Match Safes (Vestas)

Japanese Match Safes

Global Match Safes

Match Holders


BOOKS

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NIGHT LIGHTS & ENVELOPE SEALERS: European Metal Match Holders

In the 1800s Central European foundries were producing some of the finest commercial metal work in the Western world.
Two of the finest were the Hanau foundry of E.G. Zimmermann and the Vienna, Austria foundry of Joseph Glanz. Among their varied products were iron and bronze figural match holders that both companies sold throughout Europe and North America.

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JAPANESE MATCH SAFES

The Japanese craftsmen were able to marry incredibly complex technical work with a grace and artistic simplicity that captured the essence of the subject. When the Japanese artist was working on a match safe this attention to craftsmanship, style and material was always carefully considered and is beautifully illustrated in this book.

Read More
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GORHAM MATCH SAFES

Gorham Match Safes is a new book written by Neil Shapiro and George Sparacio and published by the International Match Safe Association. It is an attempt to record all the known Gorham match safes in public, private and institutional collections as well as all of the archival images in the Gorham Archives in the John Hay library at Brown University.


BOOK REVIEWS