deck-24-07


It began as a rainy month and summer apparently has a slow start this year. I haven't visited any outside markets yet and am still waiting for a sunny day to coincide with an interesting event. So no good finds there to show here.		And the mailman didn't bring any boxes with playing cards either. No surprise, as I'm not actively searching for them online any longer. No more daily going through eBay, Etsy, MP or other lists for me.
	So there was nothing left than to go through the collection again. However, it's getting more and more difficult to find an interesting antique deck which hasn't been shown yet in some other spot on this website.

But I remembered that I had already set aside some decks for the auction at the IPCS/Talon convention in Vienna this September and this is one of them. So, while this deck is still around, I'll use the opportunity to share it here.

I've already shown 2 other decks by Gustave Lenssen on this spot (see October 2015 and December 2022). Those were definitely non-standard decks and had scenic aces. This deck looks like a more standard deck. I haven't been able to find a similar deck in the available IPCS pattern sheets here, but obviously it should be in the XP corner.
We have usually described this sort of pattern as that with the veiled queens. Here they don't hold any flowers. Other general features are the flat caps with feathers on the jacks, the kings with scepters and orbs or a harp (KC). The deck was lithographically printed and hand coloured with stencils, with a different colour scheme on the opposite sides.
A special feature in this pattern is the small suit sign, embedded in the design of each court. Most of them are easy to spot, except for the JC (a very small club on his halberd). But a more important feature is the shield on the Jack of Spades. It shows a crowned "climbing" lion against a background with rectangular blocks. Although the image is not complete, it definitely refers to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The lion as a Dutch heraldic image dates from 1584 and represented the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was done in gold against a red background, had a crown and a sword in one paw and seven arrows in the other. When the Netherlands became a kingdom in 1815 a new national emblem was designed. The original Dutch lion replaced the lion, which was already set against the blue background with gold blocks in the emblem of the Dutch royal Nassau family. Although sword and arrows are missing on the jack's shield, the rectangular blocks and crown make the reference to the Netherlands clear.






The name of the manufacturer is on the Queen of Hearts. Gustave (or Gustaaf) Lenssen was active as a playing card manufacturer in Maastricht from 1838 until 1859. On June 18, 1838, he advertised his business in the Algemeen Handelsblad newspaper and a day later the same text also appeared in the Bredasche Courant, announcing that he "since some time had founded a playing card factory" (sedert eenigen tijd heeft opgerigt eene Fabrijk van Speelkaarten).




In 1853 the company employed 25 persons. This was without a certain Henry Mühlen, who had been fired in January 1841. An event that was apparently important enough for an announcement in a few newspapers. In 1856 only 14 employees were left. But their number increased again after a steam machine had been put in use in 1857. In 1859 Gustaaf closed the factory and it became part of his son's enterprise, Oscar Lenssen & Co. in Zevenaar, in 1860. Oscar had to close down his company in 1863.

The deck consists of 52 cards and probably dates from the 1850's.