Vesta case

Vesta cases, vesta boxes, or pocket match safes or matchsafes were small portable boxes made in a great variety of forms with snapshut covers to contain vestas (short matches) and keep them dry.

So called after the name of one of the early makers (which was taken from the goddess Vesta, a Roman deity of fire and the hearth), they came into use around the 1830s and were produced extensively between 1890 and 1920. During this period, almost everyone carried strike anywhere matches, so they could light stoves, lanterns and other devices. Early matches were unreliable and prone to ignite from rubbing on one another or spontaneously. Accordingly, most people carried a match safe to house their matches. Wealthy people had match safes made of gold or silver, while common folk had ones made of tin or brass.

They were made throughout the world including the United Kingdom, in the USA, continental Europe and Australia. Significant English makers of vesta cases included notable silversmiths such as Sampson Mordan and Asprey & Co. Significant American manufacturers of match safes include Wm. B. Kerr, Gorham, Unger Brothers, Battin, Blackington, Whiting, George Scheibler and Shreve & Co.

The different patterns and types must run into many thousands. As well as plain and decorated square, oblong and round cases, a myriad of novelty shapes have been recorded; silver, brass or white metal pigs with hinged heads were popular, as were vesta cases in the form of Mr Punch, hearts, skulls, musical instruments (often violas), owls, boots and shoes, bottles, ladies' legs and so on.

They were also made in a wide range of materials, including pressed brass, pressed tin, gunmetal, nickel silver, gold, bone, ivory, wood of varying types, early plastics like tortoiseshell and bakelite, and ceramics. The more unusual materials included leather and the sea bean seed from Entada gigas commonly known as the monkey-ladder, sea bean, Cœur de la Mer or Sea Heart. Although the majority were made of inexpensive materials, some were made of precious metals or enameled. These precious metal cases typically had a gold wash interior to prevent corrosion by the chemically active match heads.

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