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Weights and Measures

Published January 23, 2018 Updated June 01, 2022

“Weights and Measures” card game by John Jaques & Son, Ltd., c.1910, a reminder of some of our more archaic units of measurement.

1910 United Kingdom Jaques Education Card Games

Units of measurement, such as length, were at one time derived from the proportions of the human body, e.g. feet, cubits, palms, fingers (digits), hairbreadth, rule of thumb, etc. Likewise other units, such as weight and volume, were based on the size of baskets, cups or grains. This “Weights and Measures” card game published by John Jaques & Son, Ltd., London, c.1910, is a reminder of some of our more archaic units of measurement. The object of the game, besides developing memory skills, is to collect as many complete sets of cards as possible. See the Rules

See article in the Guardian about metric and imperial units of measurement

Weights and Measures card game published by John Jaques & Son, Ltd., London, c.1910
Weights and Measures card game published by John Jaques & Son, Ltd., London, c.1910

Above: “Weights and Measures” card game published by John Jaques & Son, Ltd., London, c.1910.

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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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