Unused Antique French Playing Cards

Earlier this year I made a post about Early 20th Century French Playing Cards, in which I show an image of an original wrapper that was used to wrap the deck, as well as a facsimile deck with a reproduction of a wrapper. Here is a picture of two near mint condition early 20th century French decks, still sealed in their original wrappers, that have survived a century and ended up in my private collection.


Both of these decks are by Grimaud, which I believe to be the oldest surviving maker of playing cards in the world; although Cartamundi claims this title, although that company is actually the product of a merger of three makers (Brepols, Van Genechten and Biermans) and the name Cartamundi never existed before 1970. Whatever the case might be, I have here two antique Grimaud decks in their original wrappers.

Due to the fact the wrappers were just cheap packaging, at the time these cards were made, most of the decks that reached the old age of 100 survived without their original wrappers. However, the maker's name never appeared on any of the cards from any of the Portrait Officiel decks, so the decks that survived without wrappers are sometimes difficult to identify. One clue that connoisseurs use to identify the makers is the color palette of the court cards. Each maker used a different palette at different times to hand color all the court cards. So, the best way to identify the maker of any particular deck is to reference it to some decks that were never separated from their wrappers.

Below is an image that shows exactly what I am talking about. Both cards came from decks that were produced around 1910. The jack of clubs on the left is from a Grimaud deck and the jack of clubs on the right is from a Dieudonné deck. The line art on both cards is identical, but the coloring is different, basically a choice made by the makers.


Another identifier is of course the back design of the cards. Some patters were commonly used by many makers, but there were still some subtle variations that can now be used to identify the makers.

I am not really sure how much these decks could be worth. They are certainly worth as much as someone is willing to pay for them. What I do know is that the number of decks that survive is gradually decreasing, as time goes by, and the number of collectors is gradually increasing, as the population of humans continues to grow. I also know that any deck accompanied by its original wrapper carries a higher price tag, simply because most wrappers are long gone.

In closing, I might as well mention that there is a useful online resource for antique French playing cards on the Cary Collection of Playing Cards page.