Wappen-Quartett

Published May 05, 2014 • Updated July 27, 2022

A coat-of-arms quartet game published by B. Dondorf, c.1900

Dondorf: “Wappen-Quartett”, c.1900

A European coat-of-arms quartet game published by B. Dondorf, c.1900. The countries show the balance of power in Europe at the end of the 19th century: the Irish capital Dublin is part of the United Kingdom; the Polish capital Warsaw is Russian and the Italian city of Trieste is associated with Austria. After the demise of B. Dondorf's games department in 1929, this and other games from Dondorf's catalogue continued to be published by J. W. Spear. The initials J.K. on the box are presumably those of the designer of the game.

Above: Dondorf's “Wappen Quartett”, c.1900. 48 cards in box with a map. Images courtesy Rex Pitts.

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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

United Kingdom • 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.

1867

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Wappen-Quartett

Dondorf: “Wappen-Quartett”, c.1900

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