Stained Boxwood Playing Card Box With Ebony and Boxwood Stringing And Monogram Cartouche To Top, C. 1900-1910

Stained boxwood playing card box with ebony and boxwood stringing. Circular cartouche with monogram to top surrounded by boxwood and ebony inlay. Box contains two complete sets (without jokers) of Goodall & Son Ltd patience playing cards. The blue set dates from 1897- 1921 and a replacement red set from 1925-50.

Box has nice age worn colour and patination. The cards show obvious signs of use but are all present and still serviceable.

Charles (Chas) Goodall (1785-1851) was apprenticed in 1801 to John William Hunt, head of the old and established playing card manufacturer Hunt & Sons. In 1820 he set up on his own in Soho, expanding over time to include his two sons. By the middle of the century, Goodall and its younger competitor Thomas De La Rue were between them producing two-thirds of all playing cards made in England. Goodall‘s distinctive court card pattern for Jacks, Queens and Kings were copied around the world, while the Ace of Spades became a sort of trademark. With World War I the business climate deteriorated and in 1922 Charles Goodall and Son was merged with De La Rue. However, the Goodhall and Sons branding continued to be used for a couple of decades afterwards.