Our Kings and Queens

Published May 07, 2015 Updated June 21, 2022

An historical & educational card game designed and published by Mazawattee Tea Co., Ltd, London, c.1902

1902 United Kingdom Mazawattee Tea Co Advertising Royalty Tea Victorian Card Games

“Our Kings and Queens”

The Great Historical Game designed and published by Mazawattee Tea Co., Ltd, London, E.C.

The Mazawattee Tea Co’s promotional card game “Our Kings and Queens” was first published in around 1901 or soon after and depicts British monarchs from William I to Edward VII. There were probably tokens packed with the tea and customers collected them for a pack of this game, which has an obvious educational benefit. The aim of the game is to collect ‘families’ of monarchs. At the same time, the backs of the cards advertise tea, cocoa and chocolate drinks. The set contains 38 cards + the Rules.

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See also Wikipedia: Mazawattee Tea Company

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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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