Card Game Items and contemporary advertisements
It is often difficult to identify the origin, manufacturer and date of a card game boxed set and other card game artifacts.
By Tony Hall
Member since January 30, 2015
I started my interest in card games about 70 years ago, playing cribbage with my grandfather. Collecting card game materials started 50 years or so later, when time permitted. One cribbage board was a memory; two became the start of a collection currently exceeding 150!
Once interest in the social history of card games was sparked, I bought a wooden whist marker from the 1880s which was ingenious in design and unbelievably tactile. One lead to two and there was no stopping.
What happened thereafter is reflected in my articles and downloads on this site, for which I will be eternally grateful.
Related Articles
Victorian grocer’s scale plate
Large flat plate decorated with highly coloured English cards and royal arms.
Agatha Christie and card games
Agatha Christie uses card-play as a primary focus of a story, and as a way of creating plots and mot...
Simpson (Piccadilly) playing cards
Innovative advertising pack for Simpsons of Piccadilly designed by André François.
Moguls, Highlanders and Merry Andrews
Discover the historic origins and evolution of card naming and quality designations like ‘Moguls’ an...
Hand-drawn transformation cards, c1875
A complete set of hand-drawn transformation cards from c1875, using a standard De La Rue pack.
Why our playing-cards look the way they do
Analysis of early playing card designs: origins, suit differences, standardization, technological ad...
So-Lah – A Game of Music
An early 20th century domino-type musical card game by Goodall.
Word Making and Word Taking
How crossword and spelling games became popular.
Lo Cartescacco / Chess playing cards
Playing cards designed by F. Romagnoli bringing together Chess and Bridge, Italy, c. 1981.
The Search for New Games in the late 19th century
A few new games survived and are still around today; most came and went and are only witnessed in th...
Bourbon Bridge
Attractive, woodcut-style courts adapted for modern play.
Miniature Card Dominoes
A miniature set of Goodall domino cards (5.9 x 3.5 cms) still in perfect condition.
T. Drayton & Son
Bezique and Whist boxed sets by T. Drayton & Son, London, c.1875.
Sylvanian Families mini playing cards
Miniature cards in sheet form with Sylvanian Families characters on the courts and Jokers.
Miniature playing cards by Joseph Fetscher
Uncut sheet of miniature Bavarian playing cards by Joseph Fetscher.
Illustrated piquet cards
Bavarian piquet cards with oriental illustrations produced by Andreas Benedict Göbl, Munich, late 18...
Trending Articles
Popular articles from the past 28 days
