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# 27

 

I am Sherlock, you are Watson

Most secondary used playing cards carry words. They form a text, for instance a note, an invitation, a message or a receipt. Sometimes the text tells it all, however in many occasions it leaves me with a puzzle. Who wrote it? Why was it written? To whom did somebody write it? Cards like that tickle my imagination. Or I keep on looking for clues that might help to reveal the picture. Each secondary used card tells a story, that is for sure. Some give away their story easily, others leave you with no other possibility than to guess what might be or could be the story. Like this card.

Let us examine the card step by step. It is obviously a 5 of Clubs, French and according to the printing technique and paper it probably dates from the second half of the 18th century.

The manuscript is in pencil. Most cards are written in ink, so that is a bit odd. Why in pencil? I can think of two reasons: the person who wrote the text was poor and did not have pen and ink or the card was written on a place and in a situation that did not allow to use ink, like somewhere outside a building or an office.

Now let us look at the text. It is written in French and it happens to be a list of tableware:

8 spoons on a rack

28 couverts (= sets of knife, fork and spoon)

19 old coffee spoons

6 new idem

3 coffee pots (or jars)

1 chocolate pot (or jar)

16 small couverts for desert

18 knives (rest I am not able to read/translate)

18 small knives for desert

24 big knives also for the table

 

maker unknown, France, 1750-1800

playing card collection Gejus van Diggele

Well, so far it could be a list of properties that were on sale or sold. Or it could be an inventory of some household. But every guess gets a different meaning by the word that is written on top of the list: une poche, that is French for a bag. Just this word puts this list in a totally different perspective. Imagine all this beautiful tableware, probably made of silver, all together in a bag? Who would do such a thing? The only person who would do so would be a thief. So I presume the card has been written by a police officer after a thief was catched with a bag of loot. It also explains the pencil: it is hard to believe that policemen in those days would carry a writing set with ink. In their pocket they had a pencil and something to write on, like a playing card.

 

I rest my case.                              

Gejus                                    
private playing card investigator                

 

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