STOCKING STUFFER: MatchDaddy Beautiful Table Matches

We spend so much time appointing our table for guests: different porcelain plates for every course, fine linens, silver, stemware and of course, candles.

One day as we were lighting the candles, we noticed how out of place our box of Diamond Matches was.

So when we discovered MatchDaddy, we knew that we had not only matches for our own table, but as:

Aside from the beautiful letterpress embossing on the boxes, the matches are available in three sizes: from cigarettes (2) to candles (4) to fireplace (8).

MatchDaddy imports the highest quality matches from Hungary, which are produced by the oldest automated match factory in the world.

Top production techniques there enable a one-time strike and maximum flame, longer burn time and reduced charring (see: you can get geeky about matches).

The only challenge is deciding which of the clever designs and vibrant colors to choose.

From snarky sayings to George Washington, from old-fashioned watch faces to whimsical animals (butterly, donkey, elephant, fish, octopus) to cultural (marijuana plants, robots) to seasonal (pine cones),

Take a look at the available designs. Its a pleasure just going from page to page looking at them all.

While mother said never to play with matches, youll get great aesthetic pleasure looking at these.

So whos your MatchDaddy?


WHERE TO FIND MATCHDADDY MATCHES

MatchDaddy is mainly available in fine stores, but these particular retailers also carry them online:

[1] Two designs in the 2019 catalog (photos MatchDaddy).

The first mention of matchsticks is in China, in 1270. A 1366 document describes a sulfur match: small sticks of pinewood impregnated with sulfur.

An ingenious man devised the system of impregnating little sticks of pinewood with sulfur and storing them ready for use. At the slightest touch of fire, they burst into flame. One gets a little flame like an ear of corn. This marvelous thing was formerly called a light-bringing slave, but afterward when it became an article of commerce its name was changed to fire inch-stick [source].

Prior to the use of matches, fires were sometimes lit using a burning glass (a lens) to focus the sun on tindera method that could only work outdoors on sunny days. A more common method was striking flint and steel to produce sparks that ignited tinder.

Many other techniques were created, that were either too expensive for most people, or too dangerously ignitable. You can read all about it here.

The first successful friction match was invented centuries later in 1826 in England. Safety matchesusing a specially designed striking surfacewere developed in 1844.

But the striking surface was not yet joined with the matches; and when it was, it was put inside with the matches!

The development of a specialized matchbook with both matches and a striking surface on the outside of the box, the box, was created in the 1890s by an American, Joshua Pusey. He sold his patent to the Diamond Match Companyand the matchbooks are still going strong.

Imagine life before matches (and for that matter, before electricity).

FUN FACT: The hobby of collecting match-related items, such as matchcovers and matchbox labels, is known as phillumeny!