Chief Cities Quartettes
Hand-made ‘Chief Cities Quartettes’ card game, c.1910.
Hand-made ‘Chief Cities Quartettes’ card game, c.1910 by an unknown artist. Each city from around the world has 4 cards with a hand drawn and painted image at the top and titles of the other three cards to complete the set handwritten at the bottom. Possibly inspired by a similar set (maybe Famous Cities or Counties) or perhaps photos in a book, the set must have taken some time to complete. In England this type of game was sometimes called "Happy Families", "Quartet" or "A Round Game" but "Quartette" could be from somewhere else in Europe.
The card for Edward VII is a clue: his correct date is 1901-1910. Queen Victoria was 1837-1901. This suggests that the author / artist may not have been acquainted with the current UK monarchy dates, and also that the cards would have been produced in or after 1910. There may be other clues.
By Simon Wintle
Member since February 01, 1996
Founder and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.
Leave a Reply
Your Name
Just nowRelated Articles
Iroha Karuta for Hino City
Special version of Iroha Karuta, a traditional Japanese matching game, made for Hino City, Tokyo.
Iroha Karuta
Traditional Japanese matching game played mainly by children.
O-Shlemiel card game
O-Shlemiel card game with Yiddish words and phrases.
Heathen Divinities
Handmade playing cards from the British Museum depicting classical Greek and Roman gods and goddesse...
Hand-drawn set of 52 playing cards
An imaginatively hand-drawn set of 52 playing cards by an amateur artist, 18th century.
Het Olympisch kaart- en kwartetspel
Dual-purpose set featuring photos of sporting figures from the Netherlands on every card.
Lend Me Five Shillings
or “Her Majesty’s Privy Purse” - a merry round-the-table game published by D. Ogilvy.
Laughing Made Easy
a Victorian card game published by D. Ogilvy.
So-Lah – A Game of Music
An early 20th century domino-type musical card game by Goodall.
Word Making and Word Taking
How crossword and spelling games became popular.
The Search for New Games in the late 19th century
A few new games survived and are still around today; most came and went and are only witnessed in th...
Winstanley Geographical cards
Facsimile of Winstanley’s Geographical cards produced by Harold & Virginia Wayland, 1967.
Vogelspiel
Vogelspiel, a German card game known as the “cuckoo game” also known as “Gnau”.
From Empire to Commonwealth
Flags, locations and admission dates of 52 Commonwealth countries.
Hand-painted and Silk-inlaid playing cards
Complete pack of 36 hand-painted and silk-inlaid playing cards with French suits made in Germany.
Around the world in 54 cards
“Around the world in 54 cards” hand-coloured transformation pack produced by Peter Wood, United King...
Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here. Your comment here.