East African Playing Cards
East African Playing Cards by Heraclio Fournier S.A., 1957.
East African Playing Cards by Heraclio Fournier S.A., 1st edition with different monochrome colours in each suit, published in 1957.
Second Edition - update by Roddy Somerville
In the second edition the images are all in a monochrome sepia colour. The tax stamp on the 4 of Clubs is a different, later one, and the manufacturer's name at the top of the 4 of Clubs reads "HERACLIO FOURNIER" rather than "Heraclio Fournier, S.A.". The two different back colours are shown. There is no booklet but instead a rather fine fold-out map of East Africa, also printed by Fournier. This map is dated 1957 so I wonder if it was also included in the first edition with the "explanatory booklet" which Matt Probert mentions. See the box►
My guess is that this second edition had a very short life. As Kenya became a republic in 1964 under Jomo Kenyatta, I strongly suspect that they wanted to drop the images of tribespeople and concentrate more on wildlife (to attract tourists) - Roddy Somerville.
By Matt Probert
Member since March 02, 2012
I have adored playing cards since before I was seven years old, and was brought up on packs of Waddington's No 1. As a child I was fascinated by the pictures of the court cards.
Over the next fifty years I was seduced by the artwork in Piatnik's packs and became a collector of playing cards.
Seeking more information about various unidentified packs I discovered the World of Playing Cards website and became an enthusiastic contributor researching and documenting different packs of cards.
I describe my self as a playing card archaeologist, using detective work to identify and date obscure packs of cards discovered in old houses, flea markets and car boot sales.
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