Playing Cards — Reign of Queen Anne
(London: John Lenthall, circa 1705)
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Playing Cards — Reign of Queen Anne
52 playing cards. Engravings on paper, signed in the plate "R. Spofforth sculp", with red tax stamp on the ace of spades, plain versos; a few instances on very light soiling, some cards trimmed just inside the printed border, otherwise near pristine. 16 cards are mounted in a frame, the rest are housed in a folder attached to the back of the frame.
3½ by 2¼ in. (cards); 26 x 20 in. (frame)
8.75 by 6 cm; 66 by 51 cm
Jaime Ortiz-Patiño (Sotheby's, London, 10 December 2013, English literature, history, children's books and illustrations, lot 226);
Acquired at the above sale by the present collector
Jaime Ortiz-Patiño Collection of Early Playing Cards, #25;
The Fournier Museum Catalogue, Volume I: British Isles, #31 (with some images reversed)
"Queen Anne's reign (from 1702) included the great military victories of the Duke of Marlborough (see next lot ). The cost of war against France encouraged the government to exploit the playing card market further, increasing the tax on a packet in 1711 from a halfpenny to sixpence."
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