This morning.
Annesley Place/Poplar Row, North Strand, Dublin 3.
Dublin Canvas tweetz:
Striking new artwork ‘Up for the Match’ by former Dublin GAA Hurler and graphic designer Larry Byrne. (above with unidentified pooch)…
Related: History of Irish Matchboxes (RTÉ Archive)
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Quick competition:
What were the other matches called?
Any why were these called Friendly?
God, I had forgotten the little lucifers. Maybe not enough fire in my life these days.
That’s excellent! Cara matches was another one
Safety?
My Ma worked in Maguire & Patterson, I must show her this :)
My ma was a smoker. She lit up to a match, and always said Irish matches tasted better on the first puff.
Whatever they used up there she liked it :-)
Were they called Friendly because they could be struck and lit off any rough surface, whereas the black-headed ones had to be struck against a strip on the side of the box?
They smelled better than the blackhead ones. Sulphur….mmmmmm
Exactly! Which also made them dangerous, hence the Cara matches (salute to Danny). The Cara matches needed to be struck against the brown strip on the side of the box.
Did any of you ever see the ‘survival kits’ where you put lots of stuff in a tiny capsule to carry on you at all times (matches, thread needle, etc)? They always said make sure you use Friendly matches (depending on the country it came from there were different names). Did anyone ever prepare one? I tried, but my Dad caught me.
Having been in some serious situations, I can honestly say that needing a Friendly match was never an issue! A needle and thread on the other hand…
Swan Vesta.
Those were the fancy ones! My dad did not like them because he said they broke half the tiime on a strike. As he was a pipe smoker I think it was more that as they were not as long as the others he could not get the tobacco in his bowl to light up on just one match.
In fairness to him, I think he had a point about Swan, the stick was not as strong as Cara, Friendly, or M&P’s matches
Amazing, well done Larry.
I am all for decorating cities and towns like that. I also wish more gable walls were used for street art and murals.
I love the well thought out and considered junction box art like this one. Well done.
In fairness even the middlin’ ones are better than the dull mini-monolithic junction box standard.
The Friendly matches had a strong smell of sulphur. Some of us kids became sulphur sniffers – less sticky than glue.