The Edwardian match striker paradox

A funny thing happens when you walk into a store with discretionary funds and a burning desire to make a purchase, you find something to buy.

The Ralph Lauren men’s flagship store

Whether Ralph Lauren suits your fashion sensibilities or not, there’s no denying that the Ralph Lauren men’s flagship store on Madison Ave in NYC is a must-visit destination. The beauty of the brand and the store itself, is that you can spend $100 or $10,000 without issue. As such, it invites essentially anyone to come in and browse.

image: https://www.ebay.com/itm/155610858259

My first time in the store was when I was no more than 12 years old. I had a stint of taking weekend trips to NYC with my uncle every couple of years. I was into fashion at the time, specifically, I needed a No Fear hat. In between the dozen or so destinations we tried to find the hat, my uncle smartly guided me to the Ralph Lauren men’s store. My memory to this day of visiting that store is quite vivid. I was blown away.

When I moved to the city, to the UES no less, I ended up visiting that store many weekends, whether bringing company or killing 30 minutes checking out what’s new.

And on one of those occasions, my wife and I came across something quite beautiful and quite unique.

Once functional objects

By all accounts, the Edwardian period in UK history is a relatively short one, lasting from 1901 until 1910 (some suggest 1914 right before the start of WWI.) Despite being short lived, it had lasting impacts on fashion and culture, among other things like technology, science, and entertainment.

One of the objects to come out of that period and survive to this day is Edwardian glass. Sitting in one of the display cases on the first floor of the Ralph Lauren men’s store were a few glass orbs and half-orbs with colorful matches sticking out of the top.

image: (Edwardian glass match striker) personal photo

I was intrigued and inquired. The ever-knowledgeable sales associate informed me that they were Edwardian glass match strikers. Oh, and also, they were $400 each.

We said thank you and continued walking around the store. I didn’t walk out with anything that day. But something about the match strikers stuck with me. I did some Googling, checking eBay to get a sense of what people were attempting to sell these for and if there were many out there. Low and behold, the prices were more than fair.

I went back the next day and bought it, with full spousal support.

Purchase rationale

Sometimes I know why I buy things. Most often, it’s because I want that dopamine boost of having something new. For clothes especially, it feels good to wear something new and receive a compliment. Other times, it’s because I actually need it (now where did I put that pair of needle nose pliers again?). The rest of the time, it’s because it’s something I’ve aspired to and it’s a recognition of an achievement (hello, Moonwatch).

For the match striker, I’m still not sure why I bought it. Neither my wife nor I are smokers, so we really only use it to light matches for candles. Maybe I thought it was a safe way to park $400 (Hey, if it’s old and in good condition, something made in 1903 surely isn’t going to lose value, right?). Maybe the idea of having a conversation starter in the house appealed to me (Note to self: Start having more company over.). Just maybe, it was because it was in a beautiful glass case in a store that I had long revered (I think the store sold it to me.).

I am a fairly logical (over)thinker, so it’s in my nature to rationalize a purchase. I’m finding that the more I try to rationalize each every purchase, the less likely I am to make the purchase. Maybe that’s a good thing? Or maybe I don’t need to rationalize every single purchase, assuming it’s within my means and not hurting anyone.

Either way, that Diptyque candle isn’t going to light itself when company comes.

KRL

The primary curator and author of 83rd + Thornhill.

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The art of flight: Exploring my relationship with Longines

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In praise of Porsche