Edwardian Silver Three Pack "Pop-Up" Playing Cards Box

A good Edwardian silver three-pack Playing Cards Box of upright rectangular form with hinged domed top and standing on acanthus leaf capped paw feet. The internal red Morocco leather covered sprung pop-up mechanism presents the packs for use when the lid is opened. Engraved with contemporary script initials - 'K.C'. Complete with three full packs of contemporary playing cards.

By Charles S Green & Co Ltd, Birmingham, 1904.

The contemporary cards are the "Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee, 1897 Commemorative Packs", produced by Charles Goodall & Son at their Camden Works in Great College Street, London N.W. These "Luxury Decks" are now very collectable in their own right.

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and the beginning of a new century coincided with a spate of beautifully printed commemorative packs. By this time Goodall & Son was producing a substantial output of ornate and colourful cards and back designs, printed mainly by chromolithography using up to 12 separate colours. Equally colourful ranges of calendars and almanacs appeared, as well as Christmas and New Year greetings cards. Advertising packs were also becoming more popular.

The year 1897 was packed with public spectacle designed to stir the imagination and generate pride. There was dazzling pageantry. The reverse of the commemorative playing cards shows the portrait of Queen Victoria by Bassano along with the legends "Victoria" and "1837-1897".

Sold - £695.00