Well OVER 100 years old this delightful Matchsafe is likely to be the ONLY ONE here in New Zealand (Because I recently brought it back from Scotland)

DEPICTS that famous RACE HORSE "Tyrconnell" owned by the Dystillery owner in a fabulously ENAMELED panel in the face of the Vesta

Enameled Vesta of any kind are VERY SCARCE

But enameled "Give-Away" advertising match safes (like THIS one) are as uncommon as Unicorn poop

HISTORY of the Dystillery....

The Tyrconnell is a historic brand of whiskey that has been revived by the Cooley Distillery (which is now part of Beam Suntory).

The brand was previously owned by the Watt Distillery, which (according to the company) dates back to 1762.

The Tyrconnell was their flagship brand, and was named after a racehorse owned by Andrew Alexander Watt.

The horse "Tyrconnell" was a chestnut colt that won at 100 to 1 odds in 1876 in the Irish horse race called The National Produce Stakes.

A horse race is depicted on the label.

The Tyrconnell Madeira finish was named by whiskey author Jim Murray as the Best Irish Whiskey of 2008 in his Whiskey bible.

BEFORE we had "Safety Matches" we had UNSAFE matches with heads of White Phosphorus that substance BURSTS INTO FLAME on contact with Oxygen, so the match heads were dipped in WAX to keep Oxygen away from the Phosphorus tip

Simply breaking the seal ? IGNITED the match....were this to happen while the matchbox was in your pocket ? That could be rather NASTY

The purpose of the "match safe" (Vesta case) was to give you a short time of safety while you quickly removed the pocket incendiary, hopefully before you or your clothing went up in smoke !

CONDITION has been shown EXACTLY in my many up-close images which ARE the most IMPORTANT part of my condition description, so do please examine all images and ask any questions before placing our bid