Hochman N12 Mardi Gras Cards Additional Information

[tobyedwards]

This must be quite a rare deck of cards as it is not fully described in Chapter 33 - Novelty Playing Cards from the Hochman Encyclopedia. I shall attempt to provide greater clarity regarding this deck here. First, the designer of this deck has his name misspelled in the encyclopedia as Castleton. It is, in fact, George Frederick Castleden who was a British-born artist who ultimately moved to New Orleans around the time of WWI and opened his own studio at 622 St. Peter St. This address appears on the sides of the OB (please see first picture of back of OB below). Second, the correct name of these cards is not Mardi Gras cards but, instead, Vieux Carre Playing Cards. The term "Vieux Carre" means Old Square in French and is the French Quarter, the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans and a popular tourist destination. This deck is so titled because, to quote from the extra joker (please see second picture below), it is "A souvenir of the Old French Quarter of New Orleans, sketched from existing sites of historic and romantic interest by the noted artist Geo. F. Castleden in collaboration with Lewis A. Clapp." Each of the 52 cards contains an oval scene in black for the spades and clubs and in red for the hearts and diamonds. Samples of 3 of these cards are shown below followed by the court cards from the diamond suit. The court cards in the major suits, spades and hearts, are identical, showing the Mardi Gras King and Queen, while the jacks show a pirate. The court cards in the minor suits are also identical and essentially the same as the major suits but there are slight changes made to them. The following is a list of the scenes shown on each pip card.

AS - The Cabildo
2S, 2H - Duelling Oaks - City Park
3S, 3H - Stairway - House of the Two Sisters
4S, 4H - Old Louisiana State Bank
5S, 5H - Court of the Lions
6S, 6H - Madame John's Legacy
7S, 7H - Courtyard - Arts and Crafts
8S, 8H - The French Market
9S, 9H - Courtyard - Le Petit Theatre
10S, 10H - Pirate Alley

AH - Saint Anthony's Alley

AD, AC - Gen'l Jackson's Residence
2D, 2C - Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop
3D, 3C - Doorway - The Absinthe House
4D, 4C - Courtyard - Gov. Claiborne's Res.
5D, 5C - The Napoleon House
6D, 6C - Old Mortgage and Deeds Bld.
7D, 7C - Saint Louis Cathedral
8D, 8C - The Paul Morphy House
9D, 9C - The Haunted House
10D, 10C - Courtyard - The Cabildo

As can be seen from this list, the scenes on the pip cards are repeated with the exception of the Ace of Spades and the Ace of Hearts making a total of 21 different scenes from the French Quarter plus the 3 different court cards. The card backs show a reversible image of Jackson Square with a one-way title Vieux Carre. There is an accent over the letter "e" in "Carre." The backs came in either red or blue. The entire deck would have consisted of 54 cards in total with a joker and an extra joker but, sadly, my deck lacks the joker. Should any other user of this website have an example of this deck in their collection, I would love to see a picture of this card. This deck was printed in New Orleans by Tropical Prtg. Co., Inc. in 1930 and is copyrighted by G.F. Castleden on 12-1-30. Mr. Castleden also published a series of postcards showing his artwork of various views of the French Quarter which he sold to tourists.

[torcams]

It is wonderful to see these rare cards.  Almost belongs in the souvenir category!

[NCC1888]

I'm going to have to "steal" this information for a story on my Forgotten People website. Hope you don't mind. Great cards.

[NCC1888]

Should be posting his story within 2 weeks

[tobyedwards]

I thought I would provide additional pictures of the front of the OB and the card back design. Unfortunately, I lack both the technology and the ability to provide better pictures here as I have neither a scanner nor any device other than my laptop single camera available to me for these purposes. On the other hand, I am of the belief that something is better than nothing, at least in this instance.

[NCC1888]

Thank you. I have accumulated quite a bit about Castleden and his partner Lewis A Clapp. Clapp was an architect. There will be a story soon.

[NCC1888]

You can now read George F Castleden's story at https://fpopc.weebly.com/mardi-grasvieux-carre-cards.html                         

[Don Boyer]

I thought I would provide additional pictures of the front of the OB and the card back design. Unfortunately, I lack both the technology and the ability to provide better pictures here as I have neither a scanner nor any device other than my laptop single camera available to me for these purposes. On the other hand, I am of the belief that something is better than nothing, at least in this instance.

Hey, Toby,

Don't sell your computer's built-in camera short!  These days, on any reasonably late-model computer, the built-in camera used for video conferencing generally tends to be pretty decent quality - far better than, say, an old 1970s fixed-focus Kodak with the 126 film cartridges or a Polaroid.

Do you have a cellphone - a modern-enough smartphone with a built-in camera?  I actually have an app on my cellphone that allows me to take an image of a document (a receipt, a letter, etc.) and convert it directly into a PDF file for sending/sharing with anyone.  I've always jokingly referred to the camera in my cellphone as "the poor man's photocopier," but truth be told, they're not bad for the purpose.

[excelsior]

This must be quite a rare deck of cards as it is not fully described in Chapter 33 - Novelty Playing Cards from the Hochman Encyclopedia. I shall attempt to provide greater clarity regarding this deck here. First, the designer of this deck has his name misspelled in the encyclopedia as Castleton. It is, in fact, George Frederick Castleden who was a British-born artist who ultimately moved to New Orleans around the time of WWI and opened his own studio at 622 St. Peter St. This address appears on the sides of the OB (please see first picture of back of OB below). Second, the correct name of these cards is not Mardi Gras cards but, instead, Vieux Carre Playing Cards. The term "Vieux Carre" means Old Square in French and is the French Quarter, the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans and a popular tourist destination. This deck is so titled because, to quote from the extra joker (please see second picture below), it is "A souvenir of the Old French Quarter of New Orleans, sketched from existing sites of historic and romantic interest by the noted artist Geo. F. Castleden in collaboration with Lewis A. Clapp." Each of the 52 cards contains an oval scene in black for the spades and clubs and in red for the hearts and diamonds. Samples of 3 of these cards are shown below followed by the court cards from the diamond suit. The court cards in the major suits, spades and hearts, are identical, showing the Mardi Gras King and Queen, while the jacks show a pirate. The court cards in the minor suits are also identical and essentially the same as the major suits but there are slight changes made to them. The following is a list of the scenes shown on each pip card.

AS - The Cabildo
2S, 2H - Duelling Oaks - City Park
3S, 3H - Stairway - House of the Two Sisters
4S, 4H - Old Louisiana State Bank
5S, 5H - Court of the Lions
6S, 6H - Madame John's Legacy
7S, 7H - Courtyard - Arts and Crafts
8S, 8H - The French Market
9S, 9H - Courtyard - Le Petit Theatre
10S, 10H - Pirate Alley

AH - Saint Anthony's Alley

AD, AC - Gen'l Jackson's Residence
2D, 2C - Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop
3D, 3C - Doorway - The Absinthe House
4D, 4C - Courtyard - Gov. Claiborne's Res.
5D, 5C - The Napoleon House
6D, 6C - Old Mortgage and Deeds Bld.
7D, 7C - Saint Louis Cathedral
8D, 8C - The Paul Morphy House
9D, 9C - The Haunted House
10D, 10C - Courtyard - The Cabildo

As can be seen from this list, the scenes on the pip cards are repeated with the exception of the Ace of Spades and the Ace of Hearts making a total of 21 different scenes from the French Quarter plus the 3 different court cards. The card backs show a reversible image of Jackson Square with a one-way title Vieux Carre. There is an accent over the letter "e" in "Carre." The backs came in either red or blue. The entire deck would have consisted of 54 cards in total with a joker and an extra joker but, sadly, my deck lacks the joker. Should any other user of this website have an example of this deck in their collection, I would love to see a picture of this card. This deck was printed in New Orleans by Tropical Prtg. Co., Inc. in 1930 and is copyrighted by G.F. Castleden on 12-1-30. Mr. Castleden also published a series of postcards showing his artwork of various views of the French Quarter which he sold to tourists.

wow !!!! that?s amazing!!! thanks for sharing, I believe these cards are the most vintage I've ever seen