|
April
2024 |
 |
|
Every
once in a while I participate in an auction. In the last week of March
there was an auction house in France, where I won a total of 7 lots.
However, almost all lots consisted of 2 to 4 decks, of which only 1
deck was interesting for me, and I wound up with 20 decks in total.
And I won 3 decks in the 52+Joker auction, of which two have already
arrived, the 1900 Paris Exposition deck by Tom Jones, which will be
added to the present xpo next month, and the Piroxloid (celluloid)
deck. |
|
So
you'll probably see a few of these decks on this spot in the coming
months. Unless, of course, I find an even better deck in the meantime. |
I
will start with one deck (from a lot of 4), which had been on our wish list
for a long time. In fact since 1997, when Max Segeth described this deck in his
catalogue as "äusserst selten" (extremely rare) and we didn't win it.
It's a French deck by a small and rather unknown publisher from
Paris. In fact the full name of this publisher is not clear either, as it's only
known as L.G.L. I couldn't find any reference on the WWPCM site and the WOPC
site showed the deck, but without adding any information or date. So I contacted
Pascal Pette, a seasoned French collector, and, although there's little known
about this company, he could provide some information. The Editions L.G.L. was
located at 45 Avenue Kléber in Paris. The company had already published a Game
of the Goose, titled "Le jeu de Paris - La Parisienne" by Madeline
Luka, in 1942.
For
the playing cards Pascal had found an invoice with the "Les Jeux L.G.L." letterhead from October 1946. Pascal comes to the conclusion that
the decks must have been published after December 31, 1945, when the strict
rules and regulations about playing cards were abolished. I don't think that the
Jeux L.G.L. publishing company has lasted for a very long time in the playing
cards field.
I've mentioned L.G.L. as publisher a few times, because I share the opinion of Pascal
Pette that L.G.L. was most likely not the printer. So that name will remain
unknown at this moment.
There are 3 known decks, published by L.G.L., but they all seem to be hard to
find. This could mean that the three decks have not been published in large numbers. Two of
them have a Spanish or Spanish orientated pattern, of which one can be qualified
as non-standard and, with some goodwill, with Art Deco influences. The same can
be said about our Deck of the Month, a non-standard version of the
Anglo-American (a.k.a. International) pattern, which was published as "Bridgpoker", probably
sometime between 1946 and 1950.
This is all the information that's currently available, unless of course some
visitor of this page can provide additional info.
So now it's time to enjoy the designs.....
I'm
not a true connoisseur of the Anglo-American or International pattern, but I do
like the published anomalies and this deck would qualify as such. It has the
looks and some of the characteristics of the pattern, like the one eyed jack of
spades with his intriguing attribute and the overall intricate and colourful
patterns in the center, but on the other hand it lacks the suicide king (of
hearts) and typical attributes of other courts have been changed.
| A special
design on the ace of spades is also a characteristic of the
international pattern. The frame, in which the suits are set, is used on
all pip cards too. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The
nice thing about the playing card groups on Facebook is that information is
passed around quickly. I uploaded this page on May 1st and announced it in some
different groups. Now it's May 2nd and all kind of new information and pictures
have appeared in the "Pre-1950 playing cards - collectors and
scholars" group. It resulted in a new portrait and a second version of an
already known portrait. All this news gave me the idea to
add a page with a (for now) complete oversight of the different L.G.L. decks.
Click HERE to see the page.
BACK
TO PRESENT MONTH
