Vintage match safe or vesta box

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Vesta cases, vesta boxes, or pocket match safes or matchsafes were small portable boxes made in a great variety of forms with snapshut covers to contain vestas (short matches) and keep them dry.Named for the goddess Vesta, a Roman deity of fire and the hearth), they came into use around the 1830s and were produced extensively between 1890 and 1920. During this period, almost everyone carried "strike anywhere" matches, so they could light stoves, lanterns and other devices. Early matches were unreliable and prone to ignite from rubbing on one another or spontaneously. Accordingly, most people carried a match safe to house their matches. Wealthy people had match safes made of gold or silver, while common folk had ones made of tin or brass.A distinguishing characteristic of match safes is that they have a ribbed surface, usually on the bottom, for lighting the matches. This one is unique in that it has two ribbed surfaces, one on the bottom and one on the side. It is impossible to establish the manufacturer and date of this vesta box, but I think it's safe to say that it dates no later than the 40s, since once the pocket lighter became common, vesta boxes became increasingly obsolete.

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