Indian matchbox labels as a visual archive

Indian matchbox labels as a visual archive(itsnicethat.com)

167 points by sahar_builds 14 days ago | 33 comments

dxbydt 11 days ago |

Ha ha! I worked in one of these matchbox factories as a kid. My dad had dropped me off at my grandpa's for summer vacation in the village. I was not a particularly good kid. So my grandpa took me to the match factory in the morning and told me to make myself useful. You sit around in a circle on the floor. There is a small hill of matchsticks piled in front of you. You count 50 sticks and stuff them into a matchbox, push that matchbox into the center of the pile. If you stuff 100 matchboxes you get 10 paisa or some such...was in the 1970s, I don't recollect exact amount. I do remember I came out in the evening with enough money to buy a stick ice-cream.

srean 11 days ago | |

Running into a comment of yours after a long time. Used to enjoy your commentary on maths/stats related topics. Hope you are doing well.

kochbitlienten 11 days ago | |

congratulations on watching the world and yourself grow in front of yours eyes

newyankee 11 days ago |

Well one hobby I had when young was collecting these matchboxes. It was rumored that collecting 1000 unique ones would unlock something and gave rise to a rat race, this is pre Indian internet and no one really knew what it would unlock. I would look into the dirtiest of places against my family's protests.

A variant of the iconic 'Ship' called 'Shib', probably a misprint was the most prized possession. When I rethink this, it seems the poor man's version of baseball cards or other collectibles but as fun, a jugaad fun activity in times of extreme scarcity

vishnugupta 11 days ago | |

Me and my friends collected, traded and also played a game with stone by staking match box covers. The idea is everyone stakes match box covers in a small circle drawn on an open ground. Everyone then takes turn to throw stone at the pile. Whichever match cover that’s dislodged out of the circle belongs to the thrower. Also played it with cigarette packet covers.

Fun times

san_dimitri 11 days ago | |

I remember doing that too as an 90s kid. Also, collected 100s of maha-lacto wrappers for gifts.

sahar_builds 11 days ago | |

Makes sense actually — if everything is identical by design, the only thing that makes one copy different from another is the mistake. Rarity has to come from somewhere.

MAMAMassakali 11 days ago | |

Ohh I remember this, collecting and trading. Got a earful from mother for going near garbage in search of these, that was the end of it.

renticulous 11 days ago |

Printed Rainbow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LatobRtLukM

The journey of an old woman and her cat through the fantastical world of match box covers. The film premiered in Cannes Critic's Week in 2006, winning three awards in Cannes and 22 other international awards.

sahar_builds 11 days ago | |

Hadn't heard of this, thank you. A Cannes film about matchbox covers is exactly the kind of thing that shouldn't work but clearly does.

joezydeco 11 days ago |

Jason Scott notes that the Matchbox Posters Archive (url withheld to avoid killing it) is uploading their collection to the Internet Archive. They're beautiful.

https://archive.org/details/matchboxpostersarchive

KaiserPro 11 days ago |

Ok but I was hoping of for a link to the visual archive?

Kinda like https://centurylibrary.com/ (paid and free), or https://watchlibrary.org/ (free)

seshagiric 11 days ago | |

That website design is not too readable... but they did have links at the end:

kokaachi.com

www.maachis.art

harshitagrawal.com

map-india.org/matchbox-momentos

KaiserPro 11 days ago | | |

You, my dear HN denizen, are the MVP.

seshagiric 11 days ago |

I used to collect these matchbox covers as a kid. Just like stamps. A bit later in time than the ones shown in the website, but definitely as fancy. There were no large "match box" corporations and each region had their own designs. Once our parents took us on a tour to North India and matchbox covers from those cities were the highlight of my collection.

yunohn 11 days ago |

Maybe I missed something, but this article felt more like an ad for their modern matchbox designs, versus any sort of gallery of older ones - save for a collage near the end.

dirkc 11 days ago |

Play with that cookie consent bar at the bottom if you feel like you need to get your blood pumping!

xnorswap 11 days ago | |

Yes, apparently you're not allowed to not allow the "unclassified" category. Apparently it was really hard to classify "ads.twitter" as marketing, so it remains unclassified and therefore you can't opt-out.

Except you can, because there's a greyed out but functional "necessary cookies only" button, but only after clicking customise.

At some point there needs to be a reckoning for companies that take the piss like this.

coldpie 11 days ago | | |

You're not powerless here. Install uBlock Origin and enable its Annoyances filters. It gets rid of a lot of this crap.

The Kill Sticky bookmarklet can also help snag ones that uBlock Origin misses. https://www.smokingonabike.com/2024/01/20/take-back-your-web...

debayande 11 days ago |

Ah, this brings back so many memories. Wimco used to be a top manufacturer back in the day (and probably still is, although I'm not sure about that.)

Highlights of my childhood include Aim, Bullock Cart, Chief, Homelites, Sunflower, Tekka and The Horse Head, among others.

rockyj 11 days ago | |

My dad had a transportation contract with the local Wimco factory, we had stacks of these at home. Lots of childhood memories associated with the matches.

aggregator-ios 11 days ago |

I would’ve read what the site was about if I didn’t get the most complicated cookie consent modal. Just backed out and won’t be visiting that now.

coldpie 11 days ago | |

FWIW I did not see a cookie modal. Most likely it was blocked by uBlock Origin's Annoyances filters. You should give it a try, it fixes a lot of this crap.

ks2048 11 days ago | |

I usually don't look at the details of the cookies, but this one is insane.

"Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies." Includes: Eventbrite, Google, LinkedIn, Shopify, Stripe, NY Times, and more.

Goodbye.

a012 11 days ago | |

Yes, there are _40_ necessary cookies which you can’t deny, 40, like it’s basically an ad in disguise

seshagiric 11 days ago | |

yah one of the most obnoxious cookie filters. You can visit these links though :)

kokaachi.com

www.maachis.art

harshitagrawal.com

map-india.org/matchbox-momentos

cyb0rg0 11 days ago |

It reminded me of the now defunct India-zine http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/

wartywhoa23 11 days ago |

> To ensure the AI-generated artwork felt authentic

Such a treatment to years of legacy.

Kthxbye.

nodeflare 11 days ago |

“Shib” being more valuable because of a printing mistake is honestly the most believable part of this story. Every collectible scene somehow ends up worshipping misprints.

embedding-shape 11 days ago | |

> Every collectible scene somehow ends up worshipping misprints.

I mean, the whole thing is about collecting rare things, anything that makes something rare of course will be worshiped, that's the point of the whole hobby in the first place...

dwa3592 11 days ago |

I remember my grandma's favorite beedi brand - paanch phool. She would give me 10 bucks to buy a pack for her which was around 5 bucks that time. The remaining would be my tip.

zkmon 11 days ago |

3 Mangoes brand from the 70's, is very familiar to me.