A Multitude of Game Pieces
“Well, what shall we play now, gentleman? Happy Families?” – Mr. Yates the cardsharp in the Titanic’s smoking room from the 1958 film “A Night to Remember”, based on Walter Lord’s 1955 non-fiction book of the same title.
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" the 29th of August is "game pieces", which was proposed by me. I recently acquired a wonderful pack of "Black Peter" printed by Ferdinand Piatnik & Sons in Vienna in the early 1950s. I have been wanting to use them for a photograph, and they seemed perfect for the theme this week. I have also included some ivory faced dominoes from the Eighteenth Century or very early Nineteenth Century, some Eighteenth Century carved ivory dice, pieces from my Grandfather’s Draughts set which I inherited from him when he died, some ebony and rosewood French wooden game chips from the early Nineteenth Century which are housed in their original carved rosewood "Puce" (French for "chip") box at the bottom of the image and some Bakelite chips from several 1920s games of mine in my collection. All the pieces are displayed on my Grandfather’s handmade marquetry chessboard. I hope that you like my choice for this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile!
"Black Peter" is a European version of the game "Old maid", Known as "Schwarzer Peter" in German, it was one of the most popular children's card games for generations, reaching its zenith in the 1950s and 60s. The idea of the game is to draw cards and make pairs. This deck has images of birds, bears, rabbits, elephants, frogs, dogs and many more animals besides. Each card identifies its pair by a symbol appearing in the top left-hand corner. However, if you have Black Peter (in this case a grumpy and naughty black cat) in your hand at the end of the game, you have unfortunately had bad luck and lose. This pack, illustrated by Willy Mayrl is still being produced today.
Wiener Spielkartenfabrik Ferd. Piatnik & Söhne, commonly referred to as Piatnik, is an Austrian playing card and board game manufacturing company based in Vienna. The company was founded in 1824 by the card manufacturer Anton Moser (1784–1842) in Vienna's 7th district. Upon his death, his professional colleague the Hungarian-born Ferdinand Piatnik (1819–1885) took over in 1843, marrying Moser's widow a few years later. Piatnik's three sons joined the ranks in 1882 adding their names to their father's company name. Piatnik continued to expand and in 1899 bought the playing card manufacturer, Ritter & Cie in Prague. As early as 1923 Piatnik received an 'irrevocable' national award and thus the right to use the Austrian coat of arms in its business in perpetuity. In 1939, the Viennese parent company was incorporated into the family limited partnership Wiener Spielkartenfabrik Ferd. Piatnik & Sons. After the war, multi-colour offset printing was introduced in 1951. In 1956, the playing card factory expanded its range to include board games, and puzzles have also been produced since 1966. Piatnik Wien has since established itself as a major business, having sold twenty-five million packs of cards (including Tarot, Tarock, Bridge, Préférence, Schnapsen, Double German and French packs), one million puzzles and one million board games (such as Activity, Tick Tack Bumm, Abalone, Pass the Pigs and Scrabble) in over seventy two countries. The firm offers more than two hundred social and family games and one thousand play card pack variants.
These rather worn French dominoes that has come into my possession have earned each and every chip, dint and scratch they have, as they were made by hand in the late Eighteenth or very early Nineteenth Century. The black base layer is made of ebonised wood, whilst the top, white pieces, are ivory - now yellowed with age - with the circular grooves inked in black paint. The two layers are affixed together with a silver rivet in the centre of each piece.
The draughts set is a British set belonging to my Grandfather, who bought them from Hamley’s Toy Shop in Regent Street in London in 1933. He and I used this set many times to play draughts on his hand made chessboard.
The chessboard was made by my Grandfather, a skilful and creative man, in 1952. Two chess sets, a draughts set and three chess boards made by my Grandfather were bequeathed to me as part of his estate when he died.
A Multitude of Game Pieces
“Well, what shall we play now, gentleman? Happy Families?” – Mr. Yates the cardsharp in the Titanic’s smoking room from the 1958 film “A Night to Remember”, based on Walter Lord’s 1955 non-fiction book of the same title.
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" the 29th of August is "game pieces", which was proposed by me. I recently acquired a wonderful pack of "Black Peter" printed by Ferdinand Piatnik & Sons in Vienna in the early 1950s. I have been wanting to use them for a photograph, and they seemed perfect for the theme this week. I have also included some ivory faced dominoes from the Eighteenth Century or very early Nineteenth Century, some Eighteenth Century carved ivory dice, pieces from my Grandfather’s Draughts set which I inherited from him when he died, some ebony and rosewood French wooden game chips from the early Nineteenth Century which are housed in their original carved rosewood "Puce" (French for "chip") box at the bottom of the image and some Bakelite chips from several 1920s games of mine in my collection. All the pieces are displayed on my Grandfather’s handmade marquetry chessboard. I hope that you like my choice for this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile!
"Black Peter" is a European version of the game "Old maid", Known as "Schwarzer Peter" in German, it was one of the most popular children's card games for generations, reaching its zenith in the 1950s and 60s. The idea of the game is to draw cards and make pairs. This deck has images of birds, bears, rabbits, elephants, frogs, dogs and many more animals besides. Each card identifies its pair by a symbol appearing in the top left-hand corner. However, if you have Black Peter (in this case a grumpy and naughty black cat) in your hand at the end of the game, you have unfortunately had bad luck and lose. This pack, illustrated by Willy Mayrl is still being produced today.
Wiener Spielkartenfabrik Ferd. Piatnik & Söhne, commonly referred to as Piatnik, is an Austrian playing card and board game manufacturing company based in Vienna. The company was founded in 1824 by the card manufacturer Anton Moser (1784–1842) in Vienna's 7th district. Upon his death, his professional colleague the Hungarian-born Ferdinand Piatnik (1819–1885) took over in 1843, marrying Moser's widow a few years later. Piatnik's three sons joined the ranks in 1882 adding their names to their father's company name. Piatnik continued to expand and in 1899 bought the playing card manufacturer, Ritter & Cie in Prague. As early as 1923 Piatnik received an 'irrevocable' national award and thus the right to use the Austrian coat of arms in its business in perpetuity. In 1939, the Viennese parent company was incorporated into the family limited partnership Wiener Spielkartenfabrik Ferd. Piatnik & Sons. After the war, multi-colour offset printing was introduced in 1951. In 1956, the playing card factory expanded its range to include board games, and puzzles have also been produced since 1966. Piatnik Wien has since established itself as a major business, having sold twenty-five million packs of cards (including Tarot, Tarock, Bridge, Préférence, Schnapsen, Double German and French packs), one million puzzles and one million board games (such as Activity, Tick Tack Bumm, Abalone, Pass the Pigs and Scrabble) in over seventy two countries. The firm offers more than two hundred social and family games and one thousand play card pack variants.
These rather worn French dominoes that has come into my possession have earned each and every chip, dint and scratch they have, as they were made by hand in the late Eighteenth or very early Nineteenth Century. The black base layer is made of ebonised wood, whilst the top, white pieces, are ivory - now yellowed with age - with the circular grooves inked in black paint. The two layers are affixed together with a silver rivet in the centre of each piece.
The draughts set is a British set belonging to my Grandfather, who bought them from Hamley’s Toy Shop in Regent Street in London in 1933. He and I used this set many times to play draughts on his hand made chessboard.
The chessboard was made by my Grandfather, a skilful and creative man, in 1952. Two chess sets, a draughts set and three chess boards made by my Grandfather were bequeathed to me as part of his estate when he died.