Gallery of playing-cards

Click on a card in the gallery below and it will be
displayed in the column on the right-hand side with a
description.

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description.

Note that these cards are here just for you to admire;
their owners do not wish to sell them. Many of them are
extremely rare or very old, or both, and were obtained
at auctions, estate sales and similar events.

Fake duty ace of spades, c.1815. The duty on playing-cards in Great Britain in the early years of the 19th century became prohibitively expensive, reaching a maximum of two shillings and sixpence per pack. Tax evasion was common and packs were illegally imported from other European countries. The one shown above was probably printed lithographically in Belgium and is masquerading as a British pack printed from woodcut and coloured by stencil in the traditional manner.