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Published July 20, 2017 Updated July 20, 2017

Royal Pavilion at Brighton

The Royal Pavilion, also known as the Brighton Pavilion, is an Asian-style palace built for King George IV when he was Prince of Wales.

United Kingdom Cartamundi Caricatures Humour Royalty Souvenir Add to Collection

The “Royal Pavilion at Brighton” playing cards, depicting caricatures of Regency period life, is also known as the “Regency Deck”. The Royal Pavilion is a former royal residence located in Brighton, England. It was built in three stages, beginning in 1787, as a seaside pleasure retreat for George, Prince of Wales (from 1811 Prince Regent), in an opulent Indian style with extravagant chinoiserie interiors.

The Royal Pavilion at Brighton playing cards

Above: The Royal Pavilion at Brighton playing cards printed by Carta Mundi in association with the Royal Pavilion, Brighton. 52 cards + 3 jokers + score card in box. Images courtesy Rex Pitts & Matt Probert.

See also Wikipedia: Royal Pavilion

The Royal Pavilion at Brighton
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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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