Lighters - Europe Match Gmbh

The invention of the craftsman Jacob Friedrich Kammerer from Ludwigsburg was to mix wood splints with yellow
phosphor, sulphur, potassium chlorate and gum arabicum and this was much safer and less hazardous than all
matches of earlier invention.
Later the production of matches with white phosphor were extremely dangerous and unhealthy. Since May 1884
according to the law of the state of Germany the use of white phosphor was only allowed under strict restrictions
due to its toxication. In the middle of the 19th century Rudolf Christian Böttger obtained the possibility to replace
the white phosphor with a less harzadous red phosphor.
The Swedish chemist Gustav Erik Pasch invented at the same time safety matches, which became popular as
Sweden Matches and which became a symbol for quality.
The match empire of the “Match King” Kreuger, Svenska Tändsticks AB (STAB), became international popular
under the name of Swedish Match Company. Kreuger established varied holdings which built a monopoly in the
international match market till 1931 with approx. 150 companies in 33 countries.
60% of the world production for matches was controlled by Kreuger.
The match and the advertising
Due to the match monopoly law only the “Zündwaren-Monopolgesellschaft” (combustable goods
monopoly) were authorized to distribute matches in the state of Germany. The brands were
Welthölzer and Haushaltsware in unified design.
During the years match boxes were not only used for packaging and transportation of matches. The
importance to use the boxes as a carrier of advertisement was quickly realized. Various trades and
industrial companies started early to place their advertising messages on the small veneer boxes.
Companies realized the option to show their advertisement to a wide range of attendance with low
cost by printed labels.
www.europematch.eu 3