I acquired a very interesting Bézique set today and could not resist sharing it, as it turned out to be far more fascinating than I expected.
I bought it online from fairly ordinary photographs and, to be honest, had not examined the listing very closely. I thought I was buying a fairly standard old boxed card set. When it arrived, I was genuinely surprised to discover that the case was much larger than I had expected, with four internal compartments, and that it still had its key. Even more surprisingly, the lock still works perfectly.
The case is leather-covered, with “BÉZIQUE” gilt on the lid, and is divided internally into four sections. Inside were four Goodall Bézique Registers in different colours, several groups of old playing cards, one small Rules of Bézique booklet, and a few loose printed papers.
The playing cards are especially interesting to me because I have never owned cards of this type before. They have no corner indices, and the numerical values are shown simply by the number of suit symbols on the cards. The Bézique sequence is 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace. Unfortunately, some cards are missing, although several parts of the packs are still quite well represented. This does not really bother me, considering their apparent age.
There are also four De La Rue “Duty Three Pence” cards, each marked: “WHEN USED IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND – DUTY THREE PENCE – DE LA RUE & Co – LONDON.” These are particularly interesting to me, especially because the overall dating of the contents seems rather complicated.
One important detail I wanted to clarify is the printed material. There is one actual Bézique Rules booklet in the case.
Separately, there is only a single detached printed leaf from The Pocket Guide to Bézique by Cavendish, Second Edition, Thos. De La Rue & Co., London, 1869. It is not a complete booklet. It is simply one surviving leaf, apparently from the beginning of the publication.
This detached Cavendish leaf is noticeably smaller than the Bézique Rules booklet, and it does not seem to fit naturally with it. For that reason, I am not at all certain that the 1869 leaf originally belonged to this particular set.
There is also a handwritten inscription inside the lid which appears to include the date 1910. Together with the Goodall registers, the De La Rue cards, the 1869 detached Cavendish leaf and the later Rules booklet, this makes me suspect that at least some elements may have been added or replaced during the life of the set.
That is precisely the part I find so interesting, because I do not think I have enough knowledge to determine which elements originally belonged together and which may have been added later.
I would be very grateful for your thoughts on the set, particularly regarding its approximate dating and whether the various elements are likely to be original to the same set or from different periods. I would be very interested in any observations about the case, registers, cards, printed material, or inscription.
I bought the whole set for only £10, so I certainly did not expect to find anything quite like this. Even with some cards missing, I am absolutely delighted with it.
Sign in to comment on this discussion.
Tony Hall
08 August 2026, 17:34Thank you for sending the pictures of the Bezique box and its various contents. I will do what I can to identify them for you.
When examining any boxed set it is important to proceed with caution. The box and its contents may have had a previous life together with bits added over time by the original owners. Alternatively, it may have been thrown together from miscellaneous bits available for the purpose of producing an item which is more saleable on eBay or a similar auction site.
Your box is typical of the more expensive boxed sets produced by De La Rue, Goodall, Willis and Co and other such companies in the last decades of the 19th century. Some were much larger and more elaborate; others in cardboard for people on more restricted budgets. The locking mechanism is frequently a part of the more expensive sets (and it is nice, and unusual, to still have the key), but why it was thought necessary to lock away a pack of cards and some bezique markers is not immediately obvious! I presume it was to avoid picking the box up by the lid, only to see the contents deposited on the floor!
As far as I can see from your photos there is no mark indicating the manufacturer of the box. However, the floral design on the lid is very reminiscent of the type of design used by De La Rue on this box from my collection, in cardboard, which is inscribed “Thos De La Rue & Co” and dated to 1869. The font is also identical.
I therefore have no hesitation in attributing the box to De La Rue. This then suggests that the De La Rue playing cards and the Cavendish booklet may indeed be part of the original boxed set as originally produced. De La Rue did not introduce corner indices to their playing cards until 1878. These square cut cards, with their floral design backs, are precisely what you would expect to find in such a box, dating from the first half of the 1870s.
If so, the Goodall & Son bezique markers are a later edition, as is the Tattersall booklet. Did the original De La Rue markers get lost and were replaced by those by the original owners, or were they added by the recent seller for the purposes of resale? We shall never know. However, we do know that by the early 1870s De La Rue were also producing the style of marker produced by Goodalls, thus:
This style is much more likely to have been included in your box when sold, although as late as 1869 De La Rue were still using Bezique markers that looked like this:
As you note, Bezique is played with two packs of 32 cards, A to 7. Perhaps it is not surprising that some cards are missing from your packs; they’ve had around 150 years to shed a few! Take a minute to look at my article on the difficulties of playing cards without corner indices. This helps to explain why such a high proportion of the rules of play for whist, bezique and the like was spent identifying what is to be done when mistakes are made during play. Dropping cards, or revoking, was almost inevitable when struggling with a large hand of cards of this type.
If it’s any consolation, I too would have paid £10 for this set if I had seen it!
All good wishes and keep collecting,
Tony
Mareks Trukss
09 August 2026, 03:51Dear Tony,
Thank you very much for taking the time to examine the photographs so carefully and for such a detailed and informative reply. I really appreciate the work you have put into identifying the different parts of the set.
It is wonderful news to learn that the box can be confidently attributed to De La Rue, and especially that the cards and the Cavendish booklet may well have formed part of the original set from the first half of the 1870s. Considering its age, I find it remarkable that so much of it has survived together, including the box, the cards and even the key.
Your explanation about the later Goodall markers and the possibility that parts were replaced over the years also makes perfect sense. It makes the history of the set even more interesting to me.
I am genuinely grateful for your knowledge and for the time you spend helping collectors like myself understand and properly identify these old items. Your reply has given me a much clearer picture of what I have found, and has made me appreciate the set even more.
And I must admit, your comment that you would also have paid £10 for it made me smile!
Thank you again, Tony. It is very much appreciated.
All the best,
Mareks