Catalogue of the collection of playing cards bequeathed to the Trustees of the British museum by the late Lady Charlotte Schreiber.

188

CATALOGUE OF CARDS.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
[No. 24].
Suitmark W Suitmark.~ - Peking [19].
doubled. trebled.
i [ Canton [22].
AU-W M - Foochow
[20].
- L i 1 W X'SZ U I 'lT N W Singapore.
-L m 1. a b e Chullgking
[26].
One Khanhoo pack from Peking [No. 18] varies for both pips and suits.
It will be noticed that the above examples show through their
apparent diversity a certain uniformity, from which it may be fairly
inferred that the squeezer marks for pip numbers had a common origin.
This is most noticeable in the mark for the 7 spot, a kind of saw edge,
which we have found to also mark the pawn, No. 7 in the chess series.
But other numeral marks are almost equally constant: the end acute
angle for 3, the central double semicircle for 4, the double full circle
for 5, the double end line for 6, and the central upward semicircle for 8.
The ace is denoted by a clip in one corner, the 9 by a single end line.
The 2 shows the greatest diversity, but usually varies with the 5, of which
it gives one-half.
The maker'sfirm name, or shop sign, is not confined to one card in
the pack. In a Khanhoo set [No. 20] it appears on each of the aces
(these include the coat cards " Whiteflower," "Redflower," and "Old
Thousand "), and on the two Jokers-the term will be explained presently.
Old Thousand in this pack is a very elaborate affair. Besides the maker's
sign Ta Li, it contains the legend, " Pray spare printed paper," and the
very oriental warning to imitators, "Who counterfeits Ta Li, may his
sons be thieves and his daughters —." In a similar pack [No. 22] the
maker's family name Yeh ("a leaf"-the surname of the celebrated
Commissioner Yeh) appears on every card except the five Jokers. On
Whiteflower is the inscription " at the old sign Yeh, faithfully and tastefully executed." On the ace of cash is printed "Yeh family," on the
other, "c senior branch." In another pack [No. 29] the style and address
are distributed over three cards; the address, Chianglan Street, Canton,
on the 6 of cash, the style Lu Ki (" stags ") on the 9 of myriads, and the
sign Tung Hwa Chai (" the Eastern Nest of Culture ") on one of the aces.
In a chess pack [No. 12] the style Yuan Hing appears in full on the kings
of the four colours, while all the other red and yellow cards have Yuan
and all green and white, fling. In a domino pack [No. 5] the address is

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