Isle of Man playing cards made by Glénisson of Turnhout
Two souvenir packs with different court cards made by Glénisson for the Isle of Man, c.1880.
The playing card factory of Glénisson & Son, Turnhout, Belgium existed from 1856 until 1899. It started after the partnership between Glénisson & Van Genechten was dissolved in 1855. It is one of the 19th century Turnhout factories from which little archive material has survived and therefore much less is known about the production from this factory than the other well-known Turnhout playing card producers. However, we can certain that these two packs were made by Glénisson & Son in about 1880 because there exists a proof sheet by Glénisson with the four aces in the Playing Card museum in Turnhout.
The two packs shown below have a similar set of scenic aces with views from the Isle of Man. However, the English pattern court cards are significantly different as is the size of the cards. The first pack is 91 x 64 mm and the son pack 108 x 66 mm. Both packs are stencil coloured.
Pack 1
Pack 2
References:
- Isle of Man Souvenir Playing Cards, Mike Goodall 2002. page 44-47
- Turnhoutse Speelkaarten, Van Autenboer/Cremers 1983, No.96, p.99-100 (proof sheet scenic aces)
All cards shown are from the collection of Paul Symons ©
By Paul Symons
Member since February 01, 2016
I'm British but I have now lived in the Netherlands for more than 50 years and am still enjoying every minute of it. I started collecting playing cards in the early 1980’s after speaking with my neighbour who was at that time a croupier in a casino. I started with just collecting jokers, but that soon led me to complete packs of cards and eventually to specialising in old and antique playing cards, particularly those of C.L. Wüst of Frankfurt, Germany. I am presently the Dutch representative of the I.P.C.S. and the auctioneer at the IPCS conventions.
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