CZECH OUT THESE SOVIET MATCHBOXES

Hi Woodsy,

Your earlier piece on matchboxes made me remember how much I used to like matchbox labels- and there are some great ones on the 'net.

In cast you want a follow-up, here are some space-oriented matchboxes, I particularly like the Czech moon rover.

Keep healthy,

Andy B.

UK

THE MAGIC DRAWER

When I was a nipper matchboxes were everywhere because everyone smoked in the Sixties. 

These little magic drawers could be used for anything once the fiery contents were duds. Some kids loved the used matches and went on to build galleons and forts. I did deploy the little timbers in matchstick canons as well.

I loved the empty boxes most though. My faves were small ones like England's Glory and Swan Vestas. 

I never really got into the bigger kitchen boxes like Cooks Matches. Just what is a safety match anyway?

So, just what went into my empty matchbox? Well anything really. Usually something alive or more often dead.

Spiders, both living and husked; caterpillars, dead flies, beetles, millipedes, webs and small skulls found in the garden.

It's was nature's rich larder that I kept in that small magic drawer!

It slipped easily in the pocket to be brought out when duty called such as when a big brother was bugging me or a big sister was looking decidedly calm. The results were instant mayhem! ha ha

I doubt I ever kept living flies and centipedes in matchboxes. They were just too fast to catch. Ants neither - too small and scurrisome. Wasps and bees definately not! Unless they were gonners!

Mention must be made at this point I feel for the matchbox's most solemn calling, its use as a small coffin for dead pets. Millions of us will have mourned as a Bryant and May fish funeral was held for a departed goldfish buried in the flowerbed. They were rites of passage for sure.

I don't recall any other pet fitting in a matchbox. Do you?

Obviously less yukky stuff could be boxed; messages, marbles [which turned them into a moving box!], die-casts [I think they were big enough for cars or?], treasures like gems and fools gold, small ammonites and fossil shark teeth bought on holiday and of course a single small Airfix soldier or a couple of Action Man stick grenades! What fun! England's glory!

Some of my mates advanced onto proper magic with matchboxes, using them in their tricks and impromptu shows for family and friends, my sixpence would vanish and fingers would be sliced off. 

I never advanced to magic and stubbornly clung onto my simple ikky ways for years.

Did you place stuff in matchboxes readers?

With the decline in smoking, do kids still do it?

battle of the matchstick

[pic: internet]

This is the Britains toy B.A.T. Gun. I had one as a kid (sadly not now). It was an effective piece of ordnance!

Kevin D.

My dinky canon!

Just remembered vividly blasting an army of HO scale Aifix soldiers with used matchsticks.

These were shot from a spring-loaded die-cast Canon on wheels.

It was military green and a few inches long. The barrel could be angled. Not very big but the spring was strong as anything. It hurled those matchsticks fast enough to cut a swathe through the carpet army like a screaming mee mee.

A few more matchsticks flattened the whole lot!

It must have been a  a Corgi or a Dinky toy. Battered with a bent rear pull rod, I adored that canon!

Did you fire matchsticks readers?