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<p>I have been collecting items connected to card play for many years and my various collections contain hundreds of pieces all of which have a part to play in the social history of <a href="https://www.wjplayingcards.com/product" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>playing card</strong></a> games. </p><p><br></p><p>I have frequently been asked which are your favourite items? Mostly this was probably due to people seeking to cut short any protracted attempt on my part to interest them in the history of games. Nevertheless, it got me thinking about which were my favourite collectables, and, if so, what criteria would I use to choose them?</p><p><br></p><p>I am particularly attracted by quality. The workmanship on some of my items is extraordinary. Beautifully handcrafted wood and leather conjures lovely images of 19th century craftsmen and women expressing themselves with skills few would be able to exercise today. Ingenuity of design is also a big draw. When competing in a crowded market-place for custom, 19th century inventors produced some wonderful designs, most of which work today as well as they did when they were sold well over a century ago. I love items which individually or with others tell a story. I have always been fascinated by the evolution of whist through various stages to the modern game of contract bridge. </p><p><br></p><p>Collectors are always on the lookout for the unusual. There are so many items which, despite their age, are commonplace because so many were produced in their heyday. So, it is nice to find something which is out of the ordinary. We also prize items in good condition. It is so good to find something which is perhaps 150 or 200 years old but which has been preserved in pristine fashion, looking as if it could have come straight from the original shop. However, just occasionally, an item may not be in great condition but is remarkable because it has survived the intervening years at all; rare survivors are much prized.</p><p><br></p><p>For me there are two other criteria which influenced my decision-making when selecting my twenty items. I prize items which are tactile, those which feel really good in the hands, and finally items which, for one reason or another, have sentimental value.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Cribbage Boards</strong></p><p>Above: this cribbage board is probably the tattiest and most unremarkable of the 150 or so boards I have collected. It is made of pine, with aluminium strips screwed into each end to hold the pegs. It is stained “Edwardian brown” and has nothing much going for it all .… except that it was the board on which my grandfather taught me how to play cribbage some seventy or so years ago. It was his enthusiasm for this game, and for just about all parlour and garden games, that lead me down a route of loving games and sport of all kinds.</p><p><br></p><p>Staying with the cribbage theme, my next choices are three boards associated with two world wars. The oldest is made of leather – black on the outside, yellow inside – with six metal pegs ingeniously contained in the black folding pouches inside.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Whist Markers</strong></p><p>Before the invention of the whist marker, there were various attempts to assist players to score their tricks. One of the great survivors is my next selection.</p><p><br></p><p>the “New Whist Counter” by De La Rue</p><p>made from the flimsiest imaginable card, the “New Whist Counter” by De La Rue has survived since the early years of the 19th century. In the days when a game of whist was played to ten tricks a game, the card collar was moved along the strip from 1 to 9, after which the game was won. I cannot confirm this, but believe that the counters were probably sold printed on a <a href="https://www.wjplayingcards.com/custom-game-cards" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>custom game card</strong></a> which the purchaser cut and assembled themselves. Collectors beware! There are a lot of crude fakes doing the rounds and on the internet. This one is genuine and has survived some 200 or so years… so far.</p><p><br></p><p>Various rather more robust card markers were designed and in common use, as the popular form of whist switched to the five-point rather than ten-point game. The most notable of these was the “Cavendish Whist Marker” from De La Rue endorsed by the primary whist guru of the day, Henry Jones who wrote under the pseudonym “Cavendish”. The basic design was patented in 1868.</p>
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