Waddington’s Old Master Series, 1933

Waddington’s Old Master series was produced from 1932-37. The first pictures were: The Laughing Cavalier (Hals); Lady Hamilton as Diana (Romney); A boy with a rabbit (Raeburn); The boyhood of Raleigh (Millais). Two other Rembrandt pictures were added in 1933 and the helmeted head found on several Waddington boxes is based on one of those, the Golden Helmet. Each pack is linen grained and complete with 22 carat gold edges.

Above: Waddington's Old Master Series, from the 1933 Trade Brochure. The picture at bottom left ("A Young Warrior") was the basis for Waddington's embossed badge which was affixed to their fancy playing card boxes.

REFERENCES

Berry, John: The Waddington playing-card collection: Part 1 The Archive, WCMPC, West Molesey, Surrey, 2005

By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

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Curator and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.