In 1844 the first safety match was made by the Swede Gustav Eric Pas. They were called safety matches because the first matches had various problems, such as the flame was not stable and the initial reaction was quite violent and therefore it was dangerous, also the smell they emitted was unpleasant.
Ten years later, in 1854, their construction was improved by John Edward Lundström, and he and his brother set up factory in Jönköping, Sweden. Now the factory has been turned into a match museum.
In 1917, Ivar Kreuger founded the Svenska Tändsticks Aktiebolaget (STAB) in Jönköping, also known as the “City of Matches”.
In 1930, the company controlled 60% of world match production and was the sole owner of match companies in 33 countries.
Also many Greek matches that were released at the beginning of the last century were made in Sweden.
Sweden has a special and long tradition not only in the manufacture of matches but also in their aesthetics.
The private collection of the “Matchesmuseum” has many Swedish matchboxes that were released from the beginning of the last century until recently, with some of them having a special collectible value.
