Cartes à Jouer Fluorescentes
Standard French cards but printed with fluorescent inks on a black background.
These standard French designs with their fluorescent colours are both fun and garish. As all the backgrounds are black, the black suits are outlined in yellow, while the fluorescent red is closer to pink. The back design is a pattern of wavy green lines against a black background.
One wonders with novelty packs such as this what the intended market was. Was it a whim of someone in the factory or just a gimmick? After testing these cards in the dark, it would appear that the fluorescence has lost its effect over time. Additionally, the cards have become warped with age and no longer lie flat. See the box►
Above: Cartes à Jouer Fluorescentes made by Boéchat Frères (‘Héron’), Bordeaux, France, c1960. 52 cards + 2 (identical) Jokers in upright telescopic box. Size: 57 x 87 mm.
Reference
Fournier Museum Catalogue, Vol. 1, France 419.
By Roddy Somerville
France • Member since May 31, 2022 • Contact
Roddy started collecting stamps on his 8th birthday. In 1977 he joined the newly formed playing-card department at Stanley Gibbons in London before setting up his own business in Edinburgh four years later. His collecting interests include playing cards, postcards, stamps (especially playing cards on stamps) and sugar wrappers. He is a Past President of the Scottish Philatelic Society, a former Chairman of the IPCS, a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards and Curator of the WCMPC’s collection of playing cards. He lives near Toulouse in France.
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