January 2021
	Almost each year I've mentioned that January is supposed to be a slow month and each time it was quite the opposite. But this January did have its slow moments, thanks to the lockdown and curfew. I still continue my daily posts in the "lockdown series" in the Kings, Queens & Jacks of All Times group. I also follow some of the auction sites, but was outbid on a rare antique Daveluy deck. Still, I managed to buy 3 decks this month, so there was something to choose from. And this is the best one....

The deck was printed in fine chromolithography, but it's unknown which printer was responsible for the fine craftsmanship. According to the WWPCM the deck was published by the British American Tobacco Company Ltd. around 1908. It's also mentioned that it's an "insert deck", but Sacha puts a question mark there. However, I can confirm that a complete deck could be made up from the insert cards, that -no doubt- came with one of the BATCO products. The cards show small differences in size, so they were never printed and cut as one deck. The cards measure about 35 x 67 mm. The scans here below were done at 150%. The back design with tobacco plant here above was scanned at 100%.
There are 52 lovely portraits of women from around 1900. To identify each card a small card is added in two corners. Remarkable is that in the top corner a complete (indexless) card is placed, while at the bottom a simple index/number and pip are put on a card. 

So, fine printing and lovely portraits........ ENJOY!

CLICK THE ACE TO SEE THE PIP CARDS OF THAT SUIT.

The deck consists of 52 cards, no joker was ever issued and - being insert cards- no box either.

(detail 2 of hearts, scanned at 400%)

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