Match boxes from occupied Ukraine – reproduction label

Here is an original wartime box of matches made by “Monopolverwaltung Reichskommisar Ukraine.” This was a legal monopoly created to give the German state the profits from the sale of matches.

These matches could have been used by soldiers or civilians. They are packaged in a small wooden box covered with purple paper. Two sides of the box have had a coating applied that allows them to be used as a striking surface for the matches.

The label for the matchbox is crudely printed on thin, inferior quality wartime paper. The print quality is terrible.

The simple graphics and shoddy print quality make this label easy to reproduce from a cleaned-up scan.

Here is that original box again, together with a reproduction I made by putting this label and some purple construction paper on a modern match box. The one at the bottom is a reproduction that I made that was used at a reenactment event, where it got wet and dirty.

With some effort it would be possible to craft a small wooden match box that would be an almost exact copy of the original. Here’s a link to a PDF version of the sheet of labels.