Jeu des Chats
Eighteen different cat breeds drawn by Marie-France Gary.
Cats appear on many different packs of playing cards, sometimes in caricature and sometimes merely in photographs. In this pack all the cats have been drawn by Marie-France Gary, who is credited on the box. The cats are named in either French or English. What is curious, however, is that there are several mistakes in the spelling of the names, notably where a French accent would have appeared over a particular letter, e.g., “Europen” instead of “Européen”, “Sacr de Birmanie” instead of “Sacré de Birmanie”, and “Chat des forts Norvgiennes” instead of “Chat des forêts norvégiennes”! One wonders whether these mistakes were ever corrected in a later edition. The numeral cards are plain. See the box►
Above: Jeu des Chats made by Héron S.A., Mérignac, France, c1997. 52 cards + 2 Jokers + 1 bridge score card in tuck box. Size: 58 x 89 mm.
By Roddy Somerville
France • Member since May 31, 2022
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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