Lend Me Five Shillings
or “Her Majesty’s Privy Purse” - a merry round-the-table game published by D. Ogilvy.
“Lend Me Five Shillings” is a victorian card game using a pack of 56 playing-cards consisting of 24 picture and 32 money cards. The pictures are humorous portraits of the Queen (Victoria), The Prince of Wales, the Keeper of the Privy Purse, etc. and the money cards depict old UK currency values of one shilling, a florin (two shillings), half-a-crown (two shillings and six pence) or a crown (five shillings).
Each picture card has a two-line verse at the bottom. For example, the School Mistress says: “So small my stipend from the new School Board, I'll lend one shilling, ’tis all I can afford.” Play commences with each player placing two counters into the pool. Whilst the game involves trying to achieve the exact sum of fifteen or twenty shillings, the verses emit messages emphasizing the virtue of generosity instead of begging or borrowing, as summarised in the poem quoted in the rules
“’Tis a very good world we live in,
To lend, or to spend, or to give in !
But to beg or to borrow, or get a man’s own,
’Tis the very worst world that ever was known.”
The Picture Cards
The Money Cards
Above: Lend Me Five Shillings or “Her Majesty’s Privy Purse” published by D. Ogilvy, 17 Christ Church Road, Hampstead, London, c.1875. 56 cards plus instruction sheet, backs plain pink, 9.1x6.5 cm. © The Trustees of the British Museum • Museum number 1896,0501.1040►
The cards are housed in a pasteboard case shared with "Laughing made Easy".
References
O’Donoghue, Freeman M: Catalogue of the collection of playing cards bequeathed by Lady Charlotte Schreiber (English 108), Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1901 [digital version here]
British Museum: number 1896,0501.1040►
Thomson, Michael: The One Shilling Card Games by Ogilvy and Jaques in EPCS Newsletter issue 136, February 2023.
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
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...
Verkeers Kwartet
A helpful quartet game celebrating the 75th anniversary of road safety exams making traffic safer.
Pirritx eta Porrotx
Happy Families card game from the Spanish Basque Country.
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...
English Heritage
52 different colour photos of historic sites managed by English Heritage.
The Malt Whiskies of Scotland
Three packs featuring photographs by Duncan McEwan of malt whisky distilleries in Scotland.
Typographic Playing Cards
Typographic Playing Cards designed by Jim Sutherland, c.2010.
76: Transitions: Hunt & Sons
Styles change and technology develops. This means that it's possible to see transition periods in th...
Trending Articles
Popular articles from the past 28 days
