The World of Playing Cards Logo

Spears Happy Families

Published July 08, 2016 Updated March 12, 2022

Spears Happy Families.

United Kingdom Spears Games Card Games Happy Families

We can only guess that Spears began producing proper Happy Family and Snap games after the success of John Jaques & Son in that area; maybe in the 1870s. Spears introduced a Quartet game using flowers, composers and poets as families in 1903. This was followed with German ‘beautiful cities’ and countries quartet games with black and white photographs. When Dondorf was split up and sold in 1929 Spears acquired the card games only and continued to issue the animal, bird, and flower series of quartets.

Spears Happy Families boxes c.1875-1920

Above: early Spears Happy Families boxes, designed in England, printed at the Spear Works, Bavaria. Images courtesy Rex Pitts.

Above: the earliest cards were square cornered, with rectangular borders and plain backs, printed in Bavaria. The captions appear at the top and bottom of each card, in the same way as John Jaques’. Image courtesy Matt Probert.

Before the war, probably in 1938/39, the Spears factory in Nuremberg was confiscated during the Aryanisation campaign and many of the Spears family and relatives had their businesses stolen with a non Jew placed in charge. Many were murdered but the son of Hermann Spear, whose name was Herbert, left Germany for England to join his Uncle Richard Spear at Enfield. When the war work was done they begun again almost from scratch. A condition which applied to the two factories was that once the German factory was restored to the family the English factory made no German goods while the German factory made no English goods. By 1984 the German factory was closed but the Enfield factory is still working today.

Spears Happy Families boxes c.1930-1950

Above: the cards in the jolly Scotsman box are the same as all the others. Backs were plain or a single colour (usually pale blue). Note that the place of printing stated on the boxes changes from Bavaria to Enfield (boxes 2 & 3) when they started to manufacture in the UK. This was probably in 1948 when production of games was begun again having spent the war producing wartime goods. Rounded corners were introduced around this time. Images courtesy Rex Pitts. See the Rules

Spears Happy Families c.1925 Spears Happy Families c.1925

Above: later editions of Spears Happy Families (after c.1948) were produced with rounded corners and no borders.

Spears Happy Families backs

Above: over the years the backs progressed from plain to pictorial, and the corners from square to rounded. Images courtesy Rex Pitts.

Around the same time the game’s description on the box changed from “A Most Diverting Game for Juveniles” to “The Amusing Party Game”.

Spears Happy Families boxes c.1930-1950

Above: boxes from games made in the Spear Works, Enfield, Engalnd. Images courtesy Rex Pitts.

From the next box (with multi coloured lettering) the card designs become the “alphabet” pattern a completely different one. In the first of these the alphabet letter was in the top right hand corner but later edition it was moved to the top left position. It is likely that it was to facilitate reading a fan of cards in the left hand, most people being right handed.

Spears Happy Families

CREDITS & FURTHER REFERENCES

Images, information and research courtesy Rex Pitts, with additional research from Matt Probert.

“The Games We Play” the history of J W Spear & Sons by Helmut Schwarz & Marion Faber published by the Nuremberg Toy Museum 1998

Spears Games Archive

avatar
775 Articles

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.

Related Articles

2018 Cathedrals, Abbeys & Minsters playing cards

Cathedrals, Abbeys & Minsters playing cards

54 pictures of different famous cathedrals, abbeys and minsters in England and Wales.

2018 Christmas Carols

Christmas Carols

Christmas Carols playing cards illustrated by Stuart Dilks

1798 Pam is the Knave of Clubs

Pam is the Knave of Clubs

Playing cards as metaphors in 18th century art - from fate, chance and social hierarchy t...

1920 Question and Answer Games

Question and Answer Games

A card game called “Impertinent Questions and Pertinent Answers” was launched in the early 1920s by ...

1711 Dr Sacheverell

Dr Sacheverell

Dr. Henry Sacheverell's impeachment in 1710 sparked widespread public unrest and political upheaval,...

1990 Leadmill playing cards

Leadmill playing cards

Promotional pack for an arts centre in Sheffield with designs by Martin F. Bedford.

2024 Agatha Christie and card games

Agatha Christie and card games

Agatha Christie uses card-play as a primary focus of a story, and as a way of creating plots and mot...

2021 Jeu de 7 familles Les Dynasties d’Artisans Basques

Jeu de 7 familles Les Dynasties d’Artisans Basques

Long-standing Basque businesses represented in a traditional card game with illustrations by Odile A...

2024 English Heritage

English Heritage

52 different colour photos of historic sites managed by English Heritage.

2022 The Malt Whiskies of Scotland

The Malt Whiskies of Scotland

Three packs featuring photographs by Duncan McEwan of malt whisky distilleries in Scotland.

2010 Typographic Playing Cards

Typographic Playing Cards

Typographic Playing Cards designed by Jim Sutherland, c.2010.

1812 76: Transitions: Hunt & Sons

76: Transitions: Hunt & Sons

Styles change and technology develops. This means that it's possible to see transition periods in th...

1920 Gibson’s History of England

Gibson’s History of England

History without tears for young and old, 1920s.

1953 Simpson (Piccadilly) playing cards

Simpson (Piccadilly) playing cards

Innovative advertising pack for Simpsons of Piccadilly designed by André François.

1998 Scruffy Mutts

Scruffy Mutts

‘Scruffy Mutts’ dog-themed playing cards, United Kingdom, c.1998.

1995 Iroha Karuta for Hino City

Iroha Karuta for Hino City

Special version of Iroha Karuta, a traditional Japanese matching game, made for Hino City, Tokyo.