Japanese Second World War Propaganda Matchbox Label, “Tentoe Dapat Kemenangan / Himpoenlah Kertas Apiapi”, No. 8. Netherlands East Indies / Japanese-Occupied Indonesia, c.1942–1945.

Original Second World War Japanese propaganda matchbox label produced for distribution in occupied Southeast Asia, almost certainly the Netherlands East Indies / Japanese-occupied Indonesia.

The label is printed in colour and shows caricatures of Roosevelt and Churchill fleeing from a Japanese bomb marked with the characters 必勝 — “certain victory”. The Malay / Indonesian text reads “Tentoe Dapat Kemenangan” and “Himpoenlah Kertas Apiapi”, approximately “Certain Victory” and “Collect match papers / matchbox labels”. It is marked No. 3.

Japanese propaganda matchbox labels formed part of the wider effort to carry wartime messaging into everyday life. Cheap, disposable and widely handled, matchboxes allowed political cartoons and anti-Allied imagery to circulate far beyond formal posters or newspapers. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum records comparable Japanese wartime matchbox covers using anti-American and anti-British imagery, while Dutch collection records preserve related Malay-language Japanese propaganda matchbox labels from the same series.

This example is particularly appealing because it directly caricatures both Churchill and Roosevelt, giving it crossover interest for collectors of Churchill, Roosevelt, Japanese wartime propaganda, Southeast Asian occupation material and Second World War printed ephemera.

Condition: Good. Archive repair to closed tear verso. General age toning, handling wear and surface soiling, as expected for a small utilitarian wartime survival. Image remains clear and colourful.

Date: c.1942–1945
Place: Japanese-occupied Southeast Asia, probably Netherlands East Indies / Indonesia
Language: Malay / Indonesian and Japanese
Format: Propaganda matchbox label
Size: 5.3 x 3.5 cm
Condition: Good
Provenance: Robert Hastings, Churchill scholar and collector; subsequently The Churchill Collection of Steve Forbes.

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