A First War "Souvenir of the Great War" Commemorative Matchbox Cover
Tin with a printed and celluloid wrapper, printed in red, yellow, blue and black inks on a white base, open on three sides, magnetic, front panel illustrating the labelled flags of six countries: "GREAT BRITAIN" in the centre, with those of "JAPAN" and "ITALY - JOINS MAY 24th 1915" above, "FRANCE" at the left, "BELGIUM" at the right and "RUSSIA" below, inscribed "SOUVENIR OF THE" above and "GREAT WAR" below, back panel illustrating a colourized black and white portrait of Lord Kitchener, inscribed "THE RIGHT MAN" above and "IN THE RIGHT PLACE." below, spine inscribed "The Worlds Greatest War. / Great Britain, France, Russia, Japan, Belgium, Italy, Servia and Montenegro, against Germany, Austria and Turkey. Declared July, 1914.", with "British Made" at either end, inscribed in handwritten black ink with the initials "SEF" on the underside of the front panel and "483" on the underside of the back panel, 41.2 mm x 61 mm x 22.5 mm, light contact and spotting, near extremely fine.