Silk Inlaid Playing Cards for Charles I

Published July 03, 1996 Updated April 07, 2024

Silk Inlaid Playing Cards for Charles I

1628 United Kingdom WCMPC silk

Silk Inlaid Playing Cards for Charles I

Said to have been made in 1628 for England's Charles I, this pack is illustrated in the book:

"Age of Kings"
by
Charles Blitzer
TIME-LIFE International, ©1968

[See pages 19-29.]

In the picture credits (p.186), they are described as:

"Playing cards made for King Charles I, by the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards, inlaid silk, ca. 1628, courtesy Katharina Gregory, New York (Robert S. Crandall)."

A total of 28 cards are illustrated in the book from what looks like a 52 card pack. The numerals 2-5 have serpents climbing up the tree stem, and all the pip cards are decorated with common flowers of the meadows and fields. Attempts are made in the book to relate the court cards to known personalities.

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By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

Founder and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.

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