MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Here are a selection of the cards I've come across in the last twelve months:

Above: Goodall Aviators, c.1910, an unusual brand.

Above: Modiano World Bridge, from the 1960s onwards, a lovely non-standard design.

Above: a specially commissioned pack by Intercol, Yasha Beresiner's old firm, in 1989 ready for the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 1990.

Above: Political cartoons from a slightly earlier era: how much has changed?

Above: A less common version of the Four Seasons pattern by Voitl of Olmütz in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, c.1875.

Above: and finally a missing link. Woolley & Co. from 1852 onwards were considered an old-fashioned firm producing cards in the traditional way with stencilled colouring. This (sadly) incomplete pack is a real find for me. It would appear to be a first attempt at a more modern design using contemporary printing methods, before the firm settled on its more usual version of the courts. Only the K & QH have any resemblance to the figures of the later design. Probably c.1865.

SEASON’S GREETINGS AND HAPPY HUNTING!!!!!