Gibson, Hunt & Son
Gibson originally took over the business of Blanchard in 1769. Gibson & Hunt operated briefly (1801-1803) and were followed successively by Hunt & Son (1804-1821), Hunt & Sons (1821-1840), Hall (& Son), Hall & Bancks and finally Bancks Brothers (1841-89).


Gibson Hunt & Son, 1801-1803
29 Piccadilly, London
Gibson originally took over the business of Blanchard in 1769. Gibson & Hunt operated briefly (1801-1803) and were followed successively by Hunt & Son (1804-1821), Hunt & Sons (1821-1840), Hall (& Son), Hall & Bancks and finally Bancks Brothers (1841-1889). The standard English court card male figures have curly, one-sided moustaches and details in the clothing and design are typical from this period, i.e. c.1800-c.1810.
Left: 'Garter' Ace of Spades (click to zoom). There were several variations in the name on Aces of Spades around this time, and the son seems to have joined the firm in 1803/04. The backs of the cards are plain white.

Above: Images courtesy Charles Flisher.
Reference: Lodge, Ken: The Standard English Pattern (second revised and enlarged edition), Bungay, Suffolk, 2010

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.
Related Articles

Disney’s Aladdin playing cards
Characters from the 1992 Disney film Aladdin.

2011 Worshipful Company Pack
Celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, with characters adapted from drawings b...

Jockey Club de Buenos Aires
Spanish-suited pack by Chas Goodall & Son Ltd for the Jockey Club, Buenos Aires.

New interest in old games
Games once fashionable are now eclipsed by quicker gratifications.

Polygo™
Cards of irregular, four-sided shape for playing word and colour games as well as more traditional o...

Treasures from the Bodleian Library
Rare books, manuscripts, music scores, portraits, maps, gospels, chronicles and other valuable artef...

Victorian grocer’s scale plate
Large flat plate decorated with highly coloured English cards and royal arms.

Queen of Arts
A wide variety of women artists celebrated on cards with illustrations by Laura Callaghan.

The Glasgow Pack
Issued to celebrate Glasgow’s reign as European City of Culture in 1990, with city views and works o...

Cathedrals, Abbeys & Minsters playing cards
54 pictures of different famous cathedrals, abbeys and minsters in England and Wales.

Christmas Carols
Christmas Carols playing cards illustrated by Stuart Dilks

Pam is the Knave of Clubs
Playing cards as metaphors in 18th century art - from fate, chance and social hierarchy t...

Question and Answer Games
A card game called “Impertinent Questions and Pertinent Answers” was launched in the early 1920s by ...

Dr Sacheverell
Dr. Henry Sacheverell's impeachment in 1710 sparked widespread public unrest and political upheaval,...

Leadmill playing cards
Promotional pack for an arts centre in Sheffield with designs by Martin F. Bedford.

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...
Most Popular
Our top articles from the past 28 days