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Round and oval playing cards were known in Europe as early as the fifteenth century, and examples by the Master ‘PW’, Virgil Solis and others survive. These early round cards were finely engraved miniature works of art, with non-standard suit symbols such as flowers or small animals. In India round cards are the normal shape. They are round, painted or lacquered discs of thin wood, cotton fibre paper or ivory which may contain up to eight or ten suits. Round playing cards were also produced in the USA in 1874 by I. N. Richardson and subsequently by The Globe Card Company in 1878. Whilst they were advertised as easier to hold, no corners to break, greater visibility, etc., they never achieved much popularity. Above: Number 1 playing cards manufactured during war-time rationing with the reference “war-time restrictions” on the box. Image courtesy Ken Lodge. After 1940 the slimline cards disappeared, but were resurrected again after the war with Goodall courts (see below for the illustration).
In 1932 Norman Victor Watson and John Waddington Limited submitted a patent application for a New Method and Apparatus for the Manufacture of Playing Cards ► Top: Q1/2/5 with GD10; bottom: Q2 with GD11, the first smaller-framed courts, Q3 with GD12, De La Rue's second version of the smaller-framed courts, Q5, still in use. Above: Orient Line to Australia twin patience set with special ace of spades, issued to passengers on the Orient Line mail steamers travelling from England to Australia, c.1925. At the time circumstances were favourable in that in 1922 Charles Goodall & Co. Ltd were absorbed by Thomas De la Rue thus leaving only one major competitor. Waddington’s began their ' Beautiful Britain' series depicting scenes of seaside, rural and historic resorts in 1924.
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The quotation on each card consists of words spoken by the character depicted, and the phrases have been chosen with a view to the temperament and the leading episode of the character; Above: RIO RITA radio talkie-musical double set of ‘Cir-Q-Lar’ playing cards manufactured by John Waddington Ltd in a padded box, c.1929. Brian McMahon (29 November 2007). "How board game helped free POWs". Mental Floss magazine . Retrieved 7 December 2007. Beginning in 1994, Christmas-themed jigsaw puzzles were released annually until 2007. The first twelve in the series depicted a scene from a Victorian-era Christmas. The final puzzle depicted a scene from the fairy tale Cinderella. The small number of puzzles, combined with them being limited editions, has made these puzzles highly collectable. [9] Further jigsaws have been produced since 2010 by a new company, using the same brand name. [9] Games [ edit ]
The company was established as a printing business, and at first 'practically all its business related to the theatre'. [1] It entered into game production in 1922, due to a boom in demand for playing cards around World War I. [2] Waddingtons subsequently sold both original games (especially tie-ins for UK television programmes) and games licensed from other publishers. During this time all the men under 35 years of age were called up for active service and a number of the girls were also either directed to the Women’s Auxiliary Services or munition factories. The girls, however, working on the bank-note side and in the department started by ICI Metals Ltd were allowed to stay, which meant there was a nucleus of trained people available for when the war-time activities ceased.In 1939, just before the outbreak of war, the firm introduced a series called "Amo(u)rette" (spelt both ways in the archive material), which were narrower than the bridge cards. They had courts without frames that were the only instance of a turned version of Waddington's own court design (W3.2). Current restrictions" was used on the boxes as soon as the War was over in reference to the continuing supply problems. These boxes were used from 1946-c.1950. Image courtesy Matt Probert. Hearts for the gentler emotions; Diamonds for wealth or greed; Clubs for aggressiveness and strife; Spades for the tragic methods of schemers. Death of Mr Monopoly, Yorkshire businessman Victor Watson, at 86, The Yorkshire Post, 26 February 2015
Obituary: Master of Monopoly who twice trounced Maxwell', Financial Times, 28 February/1 March 2015, p. 11 In 1935 Ormond Printing was obtained, which meant that playing card production could be delegated to Eire
Waddingtons became the UK publisher of the US Parker Brothers' Monopoly, while Parker licensed Waddingtons' Cluedo. [2] In 1941, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence section 9 (MI9) had the company create a special edition of Monopoly for World War II prisoners of war held by the Germans. [3] Churchill requested that playing card manufacture be maintained at any cost, so as to provide distraction during the endless hours of boredom in the trenches. Around 1985, A.S.S. of Leinfelden took over the printing of these cards for Waddingtons and issued them in one of their typical drop-lid boxes. In 1924 they seem to have introduced a new version of bridge called Buccaneer Bridge with four extra ones (as well as aces). The images are courtesy of Chris Rayner.
I did not deal with jokers in my book, but they can also be useful aids to identification and dating. I give a few examples below.To start with, here are a few guides to De La Rue, Goodall and a few, later Waddington cards with Goodall courts. Waddingtons was a British manufacturer of card and board games. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and the manager, actor and playwright Wilson Barrett, under the name Waddingtons Limited. The name was changed in 1905 to John Waddington Limited, then Waddington's House of Games, then Waddington Games, and finally just Waddingtons. The first set of courts is, in fact, their first design (W1), an odd mixture of other people’s designs usually on cheap card. It seems to have been produced only in 1922-23.
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