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VETERAN collector Dr Abdul Aziz Hamza decided to strike out on a special course of collecting as a teenager and few in Bahrain can now match his amazing phillumeny passion.
For the last 53 years, the former undersecretary of the Health Ministry, has been hoarding matchboxes, building a collection of more than 6,000 unused boxes from around 40 countries.
Dr Abdul Aziz, 66, said: “I started collecting when I was 13 years old. The first matchbox I ever bought was a Rothmans box. I am not quite sure why I was drawn to them in the first place. I remember being moved by the tale of The Little Match Girl and I also loved the art and design of these boxes, as well as the elemental connection to fire.”
The Little Match Girl by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen tells the story of a young girl trying to sell matches on a freezing cold New Year’s Eve, with the burning matches metaphorically representing her dreams and hopes.
The poor girl is torn between lighting matches to stay warm and alive, and selling enough matches so she can go home without suffering the wrath of her stepfather.
While the story of The Little Match Girl has a tragic ending, Dr Aziz has kept his passion alive and burning through the years, with the help of his family.
He added: “My parents and siblings helped me collect more and more boxes when I was young. When I went to university and medical school in Alexandria, Egypt, my mother actually kept aside matchboxes and handed me a bag of them once I got home!”
Today, Dr Abdul Aziz’s daughters Anfal, Alaa, Inas and Eman, as well as his wife Nadia, help him expand his collection, bringing back match packs from every country and hotel they visit.
Dr Abdul Aziz’s collection now spans five decades of the kingdom’s history with hints of the changing times dotted throughout – from a time when airlines handed out matchboxes to an era when they were part of promotional merchandise distributed by major companies.
The retired plastic surgeon added: “Whenever I travel to a country, the first thing I do is buy some matchboxes to add to my collection. Collecting has always made me happy and I think this is also a good skill for our children to learn and find more productive ways to occupy their time.
“Now that I have this collection, I am hoping that someone from the younger generations can help organise and chronicle it. My daughter, Anfal, is particularly fond of the collection and I am planning on leaving it to her, so maybe it will be her or maybe someone else who also enjoys the hobby.”
While Dr Abdul Aziz hasn’t met any other matchbox collectors in the kingdom or during his travels, phillumeny, the hobby of collecting match-related items, has a fiery following all over the world.
Steven Smith from the UK has the largest collection, with 20,736 unique matchboxes and over one million matchbox labels from 130 countries. Collectors are drawn to the unique art as well as the stories of a country’s ideas, history and politics that matchboxes can tell.
The hobby saw its heyday during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s but has seen a decline since printing quality and the widespread availability of matchboxes have taken a dive with the availability of gas-filled lighters and decline of tobacco smoking.
Often many collectors remove the matches from within the boxes, keeping just the flattened covers after dipping them in hot water to remove the glue, but Dr Abdul Aziz’s pristine collection still has the original matches from each box.
While matchboxes are the largest and perhaps, most luminous of his collections, Dr Abdul Aziz has a penchant for chronicling and collection, having previously published Tears on an Island, an anthology of the various disasters and tragedies that Bahrain has witnessed over the last century.
While the facts, stories and events he chronicled and collected for that book stem from his professional roles, his matchbox collection comes from a simple childhood fascination.
Dr Abdul Aziz added: “Many people, when they visit my home, are surprised that even at this age and having been a doctor, I continue to collect matchboxes but once they take a look at some of the boxes, lots of my friends and family keep adding to my collection.
“I’d love to see them displayed in some sort of personal collection museum, where we can see all the collections that different people have built in Bahrain over the last few decades.”
Click the link to see more of the collection : https://youtu.be/HxM6zZycc10
