deck-24-05

It was a difficult choice this month. I had already started to scan the courts of a Tarot deck by Willeb from Paris, which was an astonishing find at the yearly flea market in Fismes, France, during my vacation. But I don't really collect Tarot decks and there was another good deck, that had arrived early this month. However, I had already shown that deck in one of the FB groups, accompanied by an extensive text about it. But even for the members of that FB group there's news here, as my conclusion has changed after a visit to the WOPC site.

Daveluy decks are almost always fun to look at, because of the background scenery on the courts. I found this deck in the latest 52+Joker auction. They usually show 3 cards of each deck and in the presentation of this deck they showed the queen of hearts, the ace of spades and the front of the box with an ace of clubs. I like scenic aces, but I couldn't recall seeing these before. So I went for it and won the auction. When the deck arrived, I was surprised by the rest of this set of scenic aces, but also by the courts.

There are 2 reference books to consult, when a Daveluy deck needs to be identified: "Daveluy" by Alex Clays, Filip Cremers, Jan d'Hondt, Luc Biebouw and Yvette Smet and published by the Brussels Euro Joker Club, a non-profit association, in 2004 and "Belgische Speelkaarten" (Belgian Playing Cards) by Luc Biebouw, published in 2014.
In the Daveluy book the deck (with the in design closest courts) is shown as Daveluy 21 (p 157 and 158). In Luc Biebouw that same deck is presented as DA2 and DA4 (p 39 and 41). The description in the Daveluy book is the most elaborate and mentions some special features, but also a specific date and year. On January 30, 1868, the pattern was deposited/registered. The registration (# 316) consisted of 12 court cards and 4 aces. Specifically mentioning "neutral aces" in the description, rather suggests that the author had actually seen this registration. Because the courts of Daveluy 21 are shown, it's made assumable that these are the same as deposited in the registration. The courts and aces are shown in Luc Biebouw's book as DA4.
The mentioned special features are the "climbing" lion in the medallion on the chest of the king of hearts, the names of Daveluy and Bruges on the jack of hearts and the fact that the queens of hearts and spades hold a fan. Books and decks can be seen by clicking HERE.

But there are also the websites of the WOPC and WWPCM. The WWPCM site shows the courts as in the Daveluy 21, DA2 and DA4 decks and dates them as 1868-1885. However, the WOPC site shows a deck with exactly the same courts as the deck here below, but with plain (neutral) aces. The deck is dated there quite roughly as c1860 - 1875. But there's that registration date in 1868. It now brings the question which deck was registered there. Is it the deck from the Daveluy book or the deck from the WOPC site? The WOPC site shows the ace of clubs, which has "déposé" (registered) printed on it. That could mean that it's very well possible that the pattern, registered as # 316 on January 30, 1868, would have had the same courts as shown here. It would also mean that the decks from the books were all produced later than 1868.

A comparison between the jack of hearts from the Daveluy book (r.) and from my deck (l.) makes it clear which version is the older one. Usually a pattern is redrawn to improve the overall look. It's obvious that the right jack is more lavishly dressed and the name Daveluy and Bruges presented in a more elegant way. Also a moustache has been added to this jack, as well as to all the other jacks in that deck. Maybe it's a coincidence, but in the earliest of all the versions of the Moyen Age deck, the jacks didn't have moustaches either. It has probably only taken a few years before these improvements were made to the pattern.

When a comparison between the 2 versions is made, it's clear that in the later version only the designs of the kings have basically been kept. All the queens have been completely redrawn and the queens of hearts and spades now hold a fan. In this deck here only the queen of hearts holds a fan. All the jacks have been redrawn too, but have basically kept their pose. But a more important difference, they all have been given a moustache in the later version.

It's an interesting set of scenic aces. Luc Biebouw shows a similar set in DA2, except for the ace of spades. Probably because his ace of spades shows a scene from the Dutch East Indies, also used in Daveluy's Batavia deck, he describes the complete set as from the East Indies. However, the rest of those aces don't show scenes from the East Indies, but most likely all from the Belgian town of Oostende. Why? Click HERE to see enlarged images of the aces.

However, the ace of spades in this deck is a bit special, as it hasn't appeared in any other known set of Daveluy's scenic aces.

The deck consists of 52 cards		and came in the original box.

	King with medallion; Queen with fan.