Time Capsule -Cards
A few years back we renovated our house and inside a wall cavity an old deck of cards was discovered sealed inside an equally old cigarette tin. I put them aside and forgot about them until recently when I found them again and decided to find out more about their origins and look into their value.
To save any suspense I have not yet discovered anything about value but I imagine that they are not worth much more than they cost at the time to make. They are complete with a joker, but without a box and missing an Ace of Clubs, and printed on cheap paper/card stock.
The cards are made in Wanganui, New Zealand by A.D Willis Limited. They have a very unique joker and Ace of Spades both decorated with Maori design details (see Joker show in bottom photograph).
I was reminded to dig them out recently after receiving a copy of the Potter and Potter auction catalogue #038, Gambling Memorabilia and Rare Playing Cards (shown below).
Photographs of some of the old cards inside the catalogue had similarities to the style and design both on the backs and the court cards.
The two photographs of the top row below show similarities in the back design and colouring. The top left cards are ca. 1873 although the cards I've found are likely much later and have just been based on back designs of that era.
The two bottom row photographs show similarities in the court cards and although I've photographed a king of spades here I have compared the king of clubs closely.
The court face margin/border is similar to the bottom right photo shown here from ca. 1840 but the addition of the indices again suggests a later production date, and the KC court card details are basically the same design of NYCC cards ca. 1915, although the image size on the card in inconsistent with cards of that time. It's possible that they were using older printing methods or that they used design from an older card but added the indices on a narrower border resulting in the unusual combination.
Of course I really have no idea about these things but occasionally I find myself playing detective. All I've really discovered here is that the design was likely influenced by designs of an earlier time period. Hardly a revelation, but perhaps someone out there can provide some more information or insight about these cards. If you have any expertise or knowledge about such things please let me know.
