Beschreibung:

German playing cards. Swiss Canton Costumes, Frankfurt am Main: C.L. Wüst, circa 1850, a complete deck of 52 stencil coloured engraved playing cards, comprising 4 suits of 13 (French suits), each with pip cards ace-10, and 3 double-ended court cards, the court depicting characters in traditional Swiss costumes, at the corners the arms of Swiss cantons, each ace with two Swiss views, jack of clubs with Wüst star, ace of hearts with tax stamp, occasional minor spotting or brown marks, ace of spades with red marks (possibly ink transfer during original colouring process), few pip cards stained and soiled, 3 creased (one with short closed edge tear, one with puncture marks), versos red dotted hexagons with central large dots, each card 92 x 61 mm, together with two later copies of the same pack, both C.L. Wüst, the first circa 1860, identical to the first pack except without Wüst star to jack of clubs, tax stamp on ace of hearts, scarce minor marks, king of hearts with minor abrasion to one coat of arms, king of clubs a little finger-soiled at one end, some pip cards soiled, stained or creased, versos as above, with a contemporary red morocco-covered cards box with lift-off lid, the second pack circa 1870, identical designs (again without Wüst star) but improved engravings, tax stamp to ace of hearts, toned with some spotting, occasional finger-soiling or marks, versos red trellis pattern of dots and stippling, plus: Java Speelkaarten (Nr.17E), variant 2, Frankfurt am Main: B. Dondorf, for Gumprich & Strauss, Batavia, circa 1880s, a complete deck of 52 colour lithographed playing cards, comprising 4 suits of 13 (French suits), each with pip cards ace-10, and 3 double-ended court cards, the court cards portraying members of the Dutch royal family and military figures, each ace with two views in Batavia and decorative gold borders, Dondorf logo on jack of clubs, toned and dust-soiled, some marks (mainly to pip cards), queen of hearts with small brown mark to edge, rounded gilt corners, versos green floral design with the importer's company name, each card 93 x 64 mm, with one other pack with scenic aces, unknown German maker, circa 1850, 52 complete, kings XP5 pattern, non-standard queens, aces with views around Heidelberg, versos dotted wiggly lines, 16 or 17 cards from each deck mounted with photo corners onto 5 display boards, encapsulated in clear plastic (none examined out of boards), the remainder contained in clear plastic bags, the boards 54.5 x 40.5 cm (Quantity: 5) Provenance: Collection of Dudley Ollis. First three items: Bube Dame König (1982) 149; Cary collection, Ger 437 & 438; Fournier, Germanic 123 (also referenced as Swiss 34). Fourth item: Braun, Schriftenreihe 'Spielkarten' band 4, BD 1874/1 (pp.66-68); Hoffman & Dietrich (1981) p.192-193. This deck fits most closely to variant 2, but with some similarities to variant 3: The queen of hearts is Emma, the jack of clubs has just one Dondorf logo, and the text on the jack of hearts is a single line. However, the king of clubs appears to have the shorter sabre. The gold border on the aces are difficult to firmly distinguish in the poor quality images in the book, but ours possibly fit best with the variant 3 aces.