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Published October 10, 2020 Updated April 05, 2022

Handmade Black Peter

Handmade Black Peter cards.

anonymous Black-Peter Hand-Painted Card Games Add to Collection
Handmade Black Peter cards

Not much information on this small size hand made pack by an anonymous artist. To play the game players try to match two cards with the same symbol (top heft corner) and avoid being left with the single Black Peter card. I love the Black Peter and the smoking cat. The back pattern is unusual to see on hand made cards.

Handmade Black Peter cards Handmade Black Peter cards Handmade Black Peter cards Handmade Black Peter cards

Above: Handmade Black Peter cards, 33 small size cards, 54mm x 78mm.

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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

Member since January 30, 2009

Rex's main interest was in card games, because, he said, they were cheap and easy to get hold of in his early days of collecting. He is well known for his extensive knowledge of Pepys games and his book is on the bookshelves of many.

His other interest was non-standard playing cards. He also had collections of sheet music, music CDs, models of London buses, London Transport timetables and maps and other objects that intrigued him.

Rex had a chequered career at school. He was expelled twice, on one occasion for smoking! Despite this he trained as a radio engineer and worked for the BBC in the World Service.

Later he moved into sales and worked for a firm that made all kinds of packaging, a job he enjoyed until his retirement. He became an expert on boxes and would always investigate those that held his cards. He could always recognize a box made for Pepys, which were the same as those of Alf Cooke’s Universal Playing Card Company, who printed the card games. This interest changed into an ability to make and mend boxes, which he did with great dexterity. He loved this kind of handicraft work.

His dexterity of hand and eye soon led to his making card games of his own design. He spent hours and hours carefully cutting them out and colouring them by hand.


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