BELGIUM

Playing card manufacturers like Brepols, Biermans, Van Genechten, La Turnhoutoise and Mesmaekers have all exported their decks to The Netherlands. Since the beginning of the 20th century they have introduced several standard patterns here and almost all these makers have produced their versions of this "Dutch" pattern. Each pattern was usually accompanied by scenic aces, depicting views from different Dutch cities and towns. Below are some examples with different patterns from different decades and by different Belgian makers.

One of the earliest "Dutch" souvenir decks in our collection was made around 1880 by the Belgian manufacturer Brepols & Dierckx from Turnhout. The Kings show Dutch royalty, but the Queens and Jacks show Dutch regional costumes.

A few other -slightly different- versions of this deck are known. The aces show scenes from 8 different cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Zaandam, Dordrecht, Leiden and Scheveningen. Although the deck is usually dated round 1880, the designs on the aces seem to be older. On the Ace of Spades the Royal Palace and Dam Square are depicted without the statue of "Naatje", which was erected there in 1856. 

     

 


This set of scenic aces was made by La Turnhoutoise from Turnhout. It was published with a poorly drawn version of the Frankfurt pattern as a 33 cards deck. The extra six of Hearts functioned as a joker in some Dutch games.
It has also been published as a 53 cards deck, accompanied by the Dutch pattern. Both decks must have been introduced here
in the late 1920's. This is based on the combination of three scenes.

 

 


Upside down on the Ace of Clubs is the Colonial Museum, which didn't open its doors until 1926, and on the Ace of Diamonds the City Hall of Hilversum is depicted. The depicted building lost that function in 1931. Also shown is the "Paleis voor de Volksvlijt" (Palace of National Industry, upside down on the Ace of Hearts), which was destroyed by fire in 1929. Of course there's always an uncertainty when using depicted buildings as a means of dating. The fact that the Colonial Museum opened in 1926 doesn't mean that the depicted building was drawn after it had been finished. Sometimes depicted buildings have been drawn, based upon earlier published architectural plans, before the building was actually finished.

        

And on the Ace of Diamonds in the following set of scenic aces, in the background of the depicted "Hoogesluis" bridge, the Palace of National Industry is still visible. Although that building was destroyed by fire in 1929, it is no indication that both these decks were published before 1930. Probably the design remained in use, because the palace is only visible in the background and the scene isn’t named after it, but after the depicted Hoogesluis Bridge.

 

Mesmaekers Frères from Turnhout printed and published this deck originally as "Prima Speelkaarten Whist 53". It has a pattern that is a sort of mix of the Cartes Imperiales and Cartes Royales. The deck is dated in Autenboer/Cremers as c1935, but I think that it could be a bit earlier. The set of aces shows only scenes from Amsterdam. Although not named on the aces the Royal Palace and postoffice are on the AS, the St. Nicolas church and Amstel hotel on the AH, the Waag and the Berlage exchange bourse on the AC and the Central Station and Rijksmuseum on the AD. Unusual are the red printed aces in the red suits.

I guess this 2 colour set didn't really appeal to the public. The same set, but now printed by Mesmaekers in black only, comes with Belgo-Genoese courts in this advertising deck for a Dutch company. Probably late 1930's. 

The same set of aces, but with slightly higher indices, came with this deck, which was published  as a 33 cards deck by Mesmaekers as Cartes Imperiales Nr. 778. 

           

There's an interesting scene on the Ace of Hearts. To our knowledge it's the only scene which depicts the "Hoogesluis" in Amsterdam, seen from the city center outwards. On other aces this bridge across the Amstel river is always shown in the direction of the center. But here we can see the famous Amstel Hotel, which is on the east side of the river. The hotel has had presidents, royalty and rock stars as guests. 

 

 

These two decks were also made by Mesmaekers from Turnhout and published in the Netherlands in the 1940's. In the first deck (52+j) this set of scenic aces was accompanied by courts of which the Queens especially show an elaborate, Art Deco influenced, design. The same set of aces was also used by Mesmaekers in a 32 cards "piquet" deck, Nr. 1403B, that was accompanied by an almost exact copy of the Rhineland pattern by Dondorf. This set of aces has also been printed in black and white for other decks. There's an interesting depiction of the Royal Palace on the Ace of Spades. It's the only ace in our collection that shows the front of the palace and not the side facing the Dam square, which is usually depicted, but is actually the backside of the palace. The main entrance is on the left side, straight under the Atlas figure on top. The palace was originally built between 1648 and 1665 as a city hall, facing a canal on the west side of the center. In 1808 the building was appointed to become the palace of the French king Louis Napoleon. He fancied the idea of a broad view on a large square, where large crowds could gather and for this purpose the weighing-house, situated on the square at the back of the palace was demolished that same year. Since then that square, the Dam, became the central point in Amsterdam and the view of the backside of the palace and this square can be found in almost every set of scenic aces.


  

Showed the previous set scenes from different cities, a slightly later published set shows 7 scenes from Amsterdam and 1 from Rotterdam. Here shown with an own version of the Rhineland pattern and a special advertising joker. The basic designs of some scenes are quite similar, although they were redrawn. This set by Mesmaekers has also been published in colour in the 1950's.

 

previous or next