Woolley & Co: “Second Harrys”
Woolley & Co produced a range of different quality playing cards, and these “Second Harrys” are towards the cheaper end of the range.
Woolley & Co produced a range of different quality playing cards, and these “Second Harrys” are towards the cheaper end of the range, with one-colour backs and without enamelled facing. Each year new styles were brought out, in various colours, as fashions changed. At this time machinery was steam powered and cards were cut, sorted and assembled into finished packs by hand.
See also: Floral Moguls►
Above: Second Harrys manufactured by Woolley & Co., London, c.1877. The court cards are double-ended and unturned, with square corners. The pip cards are one-way. A detail from the wrapper is shown below.
REFERENCES
Goodall, Michael H: Minor British Playing Card Makers of the Nineteenth Century, (vol.2) Woolley & Company, Woking, 1996
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.
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