Little Lord Fauntleroy Merchandise: Playing Cards


Figure 1.--This set of playing cards was made with Little Lord Fauntleroy as the jocker and on the ace. The artist emphasizes the sash. Notice how this deck has a plain back.

Playing cards came with Little Lord Fauntleroy images. Cards were probably much more popular in the days before radio and television as there were far fewer alternative entertaiments. It should also be noted that cards were a far more controversial matter in the late 19th and early 20 century with many Americans considering them sinful and the work of the devil.

Courts

There are many kinds of playing cards with non-standard jockers, but fewer with non-standard courts. Decks with Non-standard Courts have unusual jacks, queens and kings. For example, I have decks where the jacks and queens and kings are: Cartoon characters, people from the Bible, dogs, all female, politicians, characters from novels, drunks, skeletons, and many, many more. Look around the Gallery--that's mostly what's on display here.

U.S. Playing Cards

These are about 2 1/2" X 1 3/4". These are called Fauntleroy Cards, and one joker pictures Little Lord Fauntleroy. These are made by the U.S. Playing Card Co. This is still the main manufactuer of playing cards in America to this day. They come in a Red leather or faux leather case with metal on each end of the case to hold the cards in place. It has a snap lock. The case says inside Pat. 1900.


Figure 2.--This set of Fauntleroy cards came with a fancy leather case. Also notice the gilding of the card edges.

US38b

A number of different Fauntleroy decks of playing cards were made. Ome is listed in Hockman as US38b (I think). The joker is more representative of US38. one destinctive characteristic was the card back had a Fauntleroy motiff--an image of an amazingly hairy Cedric in a sailor suit and hat with his friend Dick

Usage

I'm not suire about the usage of these cards. Playing cards were considered immoral by a large part of The Americam public in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many children would not have been allowed to play with them. Thus is unlikely if these Fauntleroy cards would have been made for children. Playing cards were of course used for gambling. HBC has trouble, however, visualizing hardened gamblers guzzling wiskey in a Western smoke-filled saloon playing poker with Little Lord Fauntleroy olaying cards. Perhaps little old ladies in nore libertine Victorian parlors may have used them to play wist. The advertising in one deck suggests that they were conceived as "toy cards". This may be the minature cards that were made rather than a reference to Fauntleroy cards in general.

Images

Some of the Fauntleroy decks had images of Cedric on the cards themselves. This was most common for the aces or jokers. I do not know of any Fauntleroy cards that had other than normal face cards. One could imagine the Eark as king and Cedric's mother as queen. HBC knows, however, of no such cards. Some cards, but not all, have Fauntleroy images on the back of the cards. Some of tbe Fauntleroy decks have plain backs. Others have specialized Fauntleroy designs.


Figure 3.--This set of Fautleroy cards had a back with a Fauntleroy motiff. Note that Eric wears a sailor suit.
Sources

A valuable source of information on playing cards is W. Gurney Benham, Playing Cards - The History and Secrets of the Pack (Spring Books, London).






Christopher Wagner








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Created: March 17, 2000
Last updated: May 19, 2001