Wallace & Gromit

Published June 06, 2015 Updated April 24, 2022

Wallace & Gromit playing cards published by Marks & Spencer, 2009.

2009 United Kingdom Marks & Spencer Animation Cartoon Commemorative Pop Culture

In 2009, to celebrate 20 years since the release of the first Wallace & Gromit adventure by Aardman animations, Marks and Spencer released a deck of jumbo-sized playing cards made in China for them by an anonymous manufacturer, featuring characters from the shows. Each denomination of card has a different picture - every Ace has the same picture, every 2 the same picture etc, thus there are a total of 13 different pictures plus two more for the Jokers depicting the nefarious penguin from ‘The Wrong Trousers’ in two different poses.

Wallace is an eccentric inventor, perhaps the squared paper background is a nod towards his ‘inventor’ persona?

Wallace & Gromit playing cards published by Marks & Spencer, 2009

Above: ‘Wallace & Gromit’ playing cards published by Marks & Spencer, 2009.

avatar
307 Articles

By Matt Probert

Member since March 02, 2012

I have adored playing cards since before I was seven years old, and was brought up on packs of Waddington's No 1. As a child I was fascinated by the pictures of the court cards.

Over the next fifty years I was seduced by the artwork in Piatnik's packs and became a collector of playing cards.

Seeking more information about various unidentified packs I discovered the World of Playing Cards website and became an enthusiastic contributor researching and documenting different packs of cards.

I describe my self as a playing card archaeologist, using detective work to identify and date obscure packs of cards discovered in old houses, flea markets and car boot sales.

Related Articles

2025 Baraja de Juan Martín Zamorano

Baraja de Juan Martín Zamorano

Deck inspired by El Pendón de los Zamorano, a military pennant dating from 1501, published by Priego...

1992 Disney’s Aladdin playing cards

Disney’s Aladdin playing cards

Characters from the 1992 Disney film Aladdin.

2011 2011 Worshipful Company Pack

2011 Worshipful Company Pack

Celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, with characters adapted from drawings b...

1926 Jockey Club de Buenos Aires

Jockey Club de Buenos Aires

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

New interest in old games

New interest in old games

Games once fashionable are now eclipsed by quicker gratifications.

1999 Polygo™

Polygo™

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

1995 Treasures from the Bodleian Library

Treasures from the Bodleian Library

Rare books, manuscripts, music scores, portraits, maps, gospels, chronicles and other valuable artef...

1992 Carte di Colombo

Carte di Colombo

Fully illustrated pack designed by Pier Canosa commemorating the 500th anniversary of the discovery ...

1819 Seminole Wars deck

Seminole Wars deck

Seminole Wars deck by J. Y. Humphreys, Philadelphia, c.1819.

1863 Victorian grocer’s scale plate

Victorian grocer’s scale plate

Large flat plate decorated with highly coloured English cards and royal arms.

2024 Queen of Arts

Queen of Arts

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

1990 The Glasgow Pack

The Glasgow Pack

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

2007 Verkeers Kwartet

Verkeers Kwartet

A helpful quartet game celebrating the 75th anniversary of road safety exams making traffic safer.

2018 Cathedrals, Abbeys & Minsters playing cards

Cathedrals, Abbeys & Minsters playing cards

54 pictures of different famous cathedrals, abbeys and minsters in England and Wales.

2018 Christmas Carols

Christmas Carols

Christmas Carols playing cards illustrated by Stuart Dilks

1798 Pam is the Knave of Clubs

Pam is the Knave of Clubs

Playing cards as metaphors in 18th century art - from fate, chance and social hierarchy t...