In the Sherlock HOlmes story, "The Man with the Twisted Lip"
at the scene of a crime, "wax vestas" are found.
Not long ago, I posted about "loco focos", strike anywhere matches. I suspected "wax vestas" were different brand of the same thing.See def. 3


Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Definition: \Ves"ta\, n. [L. Vesta, akin to Gr. ? Vesta, ? the hearth
of the house, and perhaps to Skr. ush to burn (see East), or
perhaps to Skr. vas to dwell, and E. was.]
1. (Rom. Myth.) One of the great divinities of the ancient
Romans, identical with the Greek Hestia. She was a virgin,
and the goddess of the hearth; hence, also, of the fire on
it, and the family round it.

2. (Astron.) An asteroid, or minor planet, discovered by
Olbers in 1807.

3. A wax friction match. --Simmonds.