LONDON — Richard Plaud’s aspiration to build the world’s tallest matchstick sculpture may have hit a snag. The Frenchman dedicated eight years constructing a 23.6-foot model of the Eiffel Tower with 706,900 matchsticks, exceeding the current record by 2 feet. However, he received disappointing news from the Guinness Book of World Records, who claimed that he used the wrong type of matchsticks to qualify for a record, as they weren’t commercially available. “The Guinness Book judges have given their verdict, without actually seeing my tower in real life,” he wrote on Facebook. Plaud, a local authority worker, said Guinness stated that the matches must be commercially available and can’t be cut, disassembled, or distorted beyond recognition. “As the matchsticks were not commercially available, and were not recognized as matchsticks the attempt has been disqualified,” was Guinness’ ruling on the matter, Plaud said.
“Having grown tired of buying matches from the supermarket and manually removing the sulfur heads of each one, Plaud struck a deal with a manufacturer to sell 33-pound boxes of headless matches,” he told Le Parisien. Although more convenient, this choice of match, which can’t be bought by regular customers in shops, appears to have possibly prevented his world record dream. However, Plaud insists that the invoices for the matches, as well as evidence from independent observers, will prove that his record attempt followed the rules.
Plaud’s endeavor to break a world record is possibly still valid after Guinness conveyed that it may have been “heavy-handed” in evaluating this record attempt and would review it. Mark McKinley, director of Guinness’ central records services, mentioned: “It’s the job of our records management team to be thorough and fastidious in reviewing evidence to make sure the playing field is level for everyone attempting a Guinness World Records title, however it does appear we might have been a little heavy-handed with this application.” NBC News has reached out to Plaud for comment on the development. The current record is held by Toufic Daher, from Lebanon, whose matchstick Eiffel Tower reached 21.4 feet high in 2009, using 6 million matches.
Plaud started the project in his living room in December 2015 and completed it on Dec. 27 last year, the 100th anniversary of the death of Gustave Eiffel, the French civil engineer renowned for the tower in Paris that bears his name. “Having a world record was a childhood dream. I always had that in the back of my mind,” Plaud told Le Parisien.
Patrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.
