Beschreibung:

French playing cards. Revolutionary version of Auvergne pattern, Angouleme: Pierre Laboureur, circa 1804, a complete deck of 52 stencil coloured wood engraved playing cards (French suits), single figure courts with all fleur-de-Lys and crowns replaced, JC with maker's ink stamp, eagle watermark, lightly dusty, occasional light toning to pip cards, 4S with surface loss to one corner (affecting pip sign), square corners, versos plain white, each card 81 x 55 mm, 16 cards mounted with photo corners onto a display board, encapsulated in clear plastic (not examined out of board), the remainder in a plastic bag, the board 54.5 x 40 cm (Quantity: 1) Provenance: Collection of Dudley Ollis. See BNF Identifier: ark:/12148/btv1b105360738 for an example dated to 1792 with several almost identical courts, made by Jaque Besse in Angouleme. D'Allemagne lists Pierre Laboureur as being active in Angouleme between 1753-1804.