Beschreibung:

Swiss playing cards. Swiss Canton Costumes, Diessenhofen: J. Müller, circa 1850, a complete deck of 52 stencil coloured engraved playing cards (French suits), each double-ended court depicting 2 different characters in traditional Swiss costumes, at the corners the arms of Swiss cantons, each ace with a single large Swiss view (with hand-colouring?), some spotting or browning to edges, pip cards lightly bowed, versos red dotted honeycomb, each card 87 x 57 mm, together with: Swiss Canton Costumes, Diessenhofen: J. Müller, circa 1850, a complete deck of 52 stencil coloured engraved playing cards (French suits), double-ended Swiss costume courts as above, each ace with two Swiss views (hand-coloured?), somewhat toned and soiled, lightly rubbed in places, some marks, jack of spades with closed edge tear, jack of diamonds with some surface abrasion, versos red dotted honeycomb, each card 87 x 57 mm, plus: Swiss Views, unknown maker (possibly German?), circa 1850, a complete piquet deck of 32 stencil coloured lithographed playing cards (French suits), double-ended courts in Germanic style, kings with sceptres, jacks with halberds or pikes, queens in possibly early 19th century style, aces with two Swiss views, dusty, some light toning or minor marks, lightly rubbed in places, versos pale red flowers and dotted weaving lines, gilt edges, each card 84 x 59 mm, with unrelated (defective) box for a Lenormand type pack, and two other Swiss decks, both Canton Costumes: J. Müller of Diessenhofen, circa 1850, almost identical to the 2nd pack listed above, 50 of 52 (without 2 of diamonds & 5 of spades); J. Müller & Cie of Schaffhouse & Hasle, circa 1890, rounded gilt corners, versos with different Swiss scenes, in addition to scenic aces, 51 of 52 (without queen of diamonds), with partial original box, titled Costumes & Vues suisses, a quantity of cards from each deck mounted with photo corners onto 5 display boards, encapsulated in clear plastic (none examined out of boards), the remainder contained in clear plastic bags, the boards 55 x 40.5 cm & similar (Quantity: 5) Provenance: Collection of Dudley Ollis. First item: courts identical to Schweizer Spielkarten 167 but without backgrounds which were added later, with aces showing different aspects of the same views. Second item: Courts as above, scenic aces as Schweizer Spielkarten 136. Third item: the British Museum has two partial decks (Schreiber, German 279 & 280) with the same courts but differing views on the aces.