Bidspirit auction | A Collection of Vintage Promotional

A Collection of Vintage Promotional Matchboxes, including an Elizabeth I Commemorative Matchbox. - This lot comprises a collection of vintage promotional matchboxes and a single, prominent elongated commemorative matchbox, all crafted from cardboard or paper. The large matchbox features a stylized portrait of Elizabeth I in historical costume on an ornate background, with ”Elizabeth I” printed at its base. Its reverse contains extensive biographical text about the monarch, a royal coat of arms, and is marked ”Printed by W. R. W. Ltd. (ENG) LEWES”; the interior, holding numerous black-stemmed matches with red tips, is identified as ”designed by walter townend for KENDRICK MATCHES LTD.” The smaller matchboxes, predominantly British and dating from the mid-to-late 20th century, display diverse corporate logos, advertisements, and pictorial designs, with examples including ”Rank Leisure, ” ”Butlin's, ” ”CO-OP, ” ”EMI, ” ”Silver Jubilee 1977,” and ”Olympic Games 1956 Melbourne.” One matchbox also features ”Isla de Menorca.”