The collectible value of a matchbox depends mainly on three factors:
-On old age – but it is not always the main factor.
-On their circulation, i.e. the number of matchboxes that were made, which usually contributes to the rarity of finding it today.
-On the illustration on the matchbox.
For example, the first series of 10 different matchboxes released in early 1972 by the Greek monopoly was: “The Heroes of 1821”, with a circulation of approximately 230,000,000 pieces. However, this series has a collectible value –it is correct to say commercial value– much smaller than a series of 10 matchboxes that was released 5 years later by the Greek monopoly with a circulation of 50,000 pieces and in fact was not released in Greece but only abroad. The second row is very rare and for this reason its commercial value is at least 30 times higher than the first row.
The difference between collectible value and commercial value must be made clear. Collectible value concerns the collector; for the real collector, the object he does not own has a greater collectible value! While the commercial value concerns anyone who wants to buy a collectible item and depends mainly on its rarity and of course on whether there is a buying interest.
The rarest matchbox in the world is accounted the single that survives those used to advertise a melodramatic performance at the Mendelssohn Opera. If we consider that the few souvenir matchboxes which have been used in the banquet of the first man who flew over the Atlantic, Lindbergh, and which have been saved, are currently priced at 30,000-40,000 euros, then we understand that this of the Mendelssohn Opera will exceed at least 60,000 euros.