Jeu des Chats
Eighteen different cat breeds drawn by Marie-France Gary.
Cats appear on many different packs of playing cards, sometimes in caricature and sometimes merely in photographs. In this pack all the cats have been drawn by Marie-France Gary, who is credited on the box. The cats are named in either French or English. What is curious, however, is that there are several mistakes in the spelling of the names, notably where a French accent would have appeared over a particular letter, e.g., “Europen” instead of “Européen”, “Sacr de Birmanie” instead of “Sacré de Birmanie”, and “Chat des forts Norvgiennes” instead of “Chat des forêts norvégiennes”! One wonders whether these mistakes were ever corrected in a later edition. The numeral cards are plain. See the box►
Above: Jeu des Chats made by Héron S.A., Mérignac, France, c1997. 52 cards + 2 Jokers + 1 bridge score card in tuck box. Size: 58 x 89 mm.
By Roddy Somerville
Member since May 31, 2022
Roddy started collecting stamps on his 8th birthday. In 1977 he joined the newly formed playing-card department at Stanley Gibbons in London before setting up his own business in Edinburgh four years later. His collecting interests include playing cards, postcards, stamps (especially playing cards on stamps) and sugar wrappers. He is a Past President of the Scottish Philatelic Society, a former Chairman of the IPCS, a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards and Curator of the WCMPC’s collection of playing cards. He lives near Toulouse in France.
Related Articles
Tarot Actuel 1984
Major arcana to cut out, issued with the French magazine Actuel, using photographic images.
Spanish pattern by Eugène Boisse
Spanish pattern published by Eugène Boisse, Bordeaux.
Catalan pattern by B.P Grimaud
Standard Spanish Catalan pattern deck made in Paris by B.P Grimaud.
Cartes politiques : Jeu d'actualité
Political playing cards published by Grimaud et Chartier, Paris, 1872.
Le Poker Politique
French politicians and various world leaders caricatured by the German artist Bubec.
Swiss playing cards by Iehan Hemau
17th century Swiss-suited playing cards by Iehan Hemau of Épinal.
SCOR playing cards
Bizarre and fantastical images by the artist Roland Topor for the SCOR reinsurance company.
Archaic Franco-Spanish pattern
Archaic Franco-Spanish pattern by Guillaume & Jean Grossard (Bordeaux).
Last Call Cats playing cards
Bar-crawling cats, designed by artists Arna Miller and Ravi Zupa.
Damn! Fools by Moon
Damn! Fools playing cards designed by Leo Scherfig, 2022.
Les Jeux de Pastor
Striking designs by Edouard Pastor focusing on the heads of figures from the medieval period.
Le Jeu des Personnages de l’Antiquité et du Moyen-Age
Edouard Pastor’s designs in black and gold inspired by Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Rouen Pattern - Portrait Rouennais
An attractive XV century French-suited design from Rouen became the standard English & Anglo-America...
Archaic Spanish proof sheets
2 x uncoloured proof sheets of archaic Spanish-suited playing cards produced for “New Spain”, possib...
English Pattern by B.P. Grimaud
Standard English pattern published by B.P. Grimaud with engraving by F. Simon, c.1880.
Jeu de Tarot (Catel & Farcy)
Colourful version of a standard French (‘Bourgeois’) Tarot.
Trending Articles
Popular articles from the past 28 days
