Premiere Guerre Mondiale 1914-1918

[PurpleIce]

Hi people,

As usual, i buy stuff which i have no idea what they are or what they are worth. So i need some expertise help again.

If any of you can help, do let me know on the history of this deck and if they are worth anything?

[Don Boyer]

Hi people,

As usual, i buy stuff which i have no idea what they are or what they are worth. So i need some expertise help again.

If any of you can help, do let me know on the history of this deck and if they are worth anything?

I can tell you right off the bat that it's from the mid-late 20th century.  What we call World War One was known as the Great War until World War Two began.  This deck refers to it as the First World War, a.k.a. World War One.  The deck is probably younger, since I can't imagine there was a lot of manufacturing in France dedicated to playing cards during the Second World War, and rationing of supplies continued for many years after the war due to shortages created by the lack of facilities to make certain goods, lack of functioning farms, etc.

One of the jokers has writing in the border - can you get a close-up shot of that?  And the "extra card" included with the deck as well, with the multi-lingual statements on it.

[52plusjoker]

Think Don is correct in the dating. Maybe a special deck done for an anniversary - say 50th anniversary of Armistice in 1968. Good quality and interesting - a neat collectible deck.

[PurpleIce]

Hi people,

As usual, i buy stuff which i have no idea what they are or what they are worth. So i need some expertise help again.

If any of you can help, do let me know on the history of this deck and if they are worth anything?

I can tell you right off the bat that it's from the mid-late 20th century.  What we call World War One was known as the Great War until World War Two began.  This deck refers to it as the First World War, a.k.a. World War One.  The deck is probably younger, since I can't imagine there was a lot of manufacturing in France dedicated to playing cards during the Second World War, and rationing of supplies continued for many years after the war due to shortages created by the lack of facilities to make certain goods, lack of functioning farms, etc.

One of the jokers has writing in the border - can you get a close-up shot of that?  And the "extra card" included with the deck as well, with the multi-lingual statements on it.

Ask and it shall be given 

In case its too small. It reads -
Editions J.C. Dusserre - Paris - 589.40.21
Maitres Cartiers Boechat Freres
Made In France

[Don Boyer]

Ask and it shall be given 

In case its too small. It reads -
Editions J.C. Dusserre - Paris - 589.40.21
Maitres Cartiers Boechat Freres
Made In France

I'd wager that the seven digits following "Paris" are a telephone number.

Tried to do some research on the French phone system to determine when seven digits were used.  Best I could find was that by 1996-97, they switched from two-digits area codes and eight-digit numbers to a combined ten-digit national number, no more area codes.  So assuming that is a phone number, I'm thinking it can't be younger than '96 and is certainly much older - I just don't know how much.

The fact that "Made In France" appears in English would lead me to believe that it was printed for sale in the United Kingdom.

[PurpleIce]

Ask and it shall be given 

In case its too small. It reads -
Editions J.C. Dusserre - Paris - 589.40.21
Maitres Cartiers Boechat Freres
Made In France

I'd wager that the seven digits following "Paris" are a telephone number.

Tried to do some research on the French phone system to determine when seven digits were used.  Best I could find was that by 1996-97, they switched from two-digits area codes and eight-digit numbers to a combined ten-digit national number, no more area codes.  So assuming that is a phone number, I'm thinking it can't be younger than '96 and is certainly much older - I just don't know how much.

The fact that "Made In France" appears in English would lead me to believe that it was printed for sale in the United Kingdom.

Is there a time period when they actually use "1" instead of "A"? or is that just as per what the designer likes?

[Don Boyer]

Is there a time period when they actually use "1" instead of "A"? or is that just as per what the designer likes?

The Ace as an "A" rather than being simply a "1" came about in the days following the French Revolution of the 18th Century.  There were a number of changes that took place to the Parisian playing card design - when the royalty were overthrown, the King, Queen and Jack (Roi, Dame et Valet) were replaced with Liberty, Equality and Fraternity (Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité) and the 1 was replaced with the Ace, now the highest ranked card, representing the power of the people once thought to be powerless.  While royalty did eventually return to the Parisian deck, the concept of the Ace remained and eventually became used as it is today, as either a high card or a low card (or both at once) depending on the game being played.

While most French decks use an Ace these days, some still use the traditional pre-Revolution 1 for the card's index.  The most recent French deck I know of still using a 1 would be at least one of the Anne Stokes/Alchemy decks made by USPC.

[52plusjoker]

Is there a time period when they actually use "1" instead of "A"? or is that just as per what the designer likes?

The Ace as an "A" rather than being simply a "1" came about in the days following the French Revolution of the 18th Century.  There were a number of changes that took place to the Parisian playing card design - when the royalty were overthrown, the King, Queen and Jack (Roi, Dame et Valet) were replaced with Liberty, Equality and Fraternity (Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité) and the 1 was replaced with the Ace, now the highest ranked card, representing the power of the people once thought to be powerless.  While royalty did eventually return to the Parisian deck, the concept of the Ace remained and eventually became used as it is today, as either a high card or a low card (or both at once) depending on the game being played.

While most French decks use an Ace these days, some still use the traditional pre-Revolution 1 for the card's index.  The most recent French deck I know of still using a 1 would be at least one of the Anne Stokes/Alchemy decks made by USPC.

Think I need to disagree. At the time off the French Revolution, decks did not have indices - ergo no 1 or A. Indices started in 1860's and A became the norm. Notwithstanding, some makers in the 1880's & 90's substituted a 1 for the A and often an X [Roman numeral for 10] for the ten. This was true of de la Rue in England and Union Card & Paper Co. in Canada as examples. A became the standard for all with the exceptions noted.

[CARTORAMA]

Hi people,

As usual, i buy stuff which i have no idea what they are or what they are worth. So i need some expertise help again.

If any of you can help, do let me know on the history of this deck and if they are worth anything?

The deck "Première Guerre Mondiale" by Editions Dusserre was issued in 1981 (Fournier catalogue FRA 561). It might be worth something like $10 or 20 depending on the condition.

[CARTORAMA]

Ask and it shall be given 

In case its too small. It reads -
Editions J.C. Dusserre - Paris - 589.40.21
Maitres Cartiers Boechat Freres
Made In France

I'd wager that the seven digits following "Paris" are a telephone number.

Tried to do some research on the French phone system to determine when seven digits were used.  Best I could find was that by 1996-97, they switched from two-digits area codes and eight-digit numbers to a combined ten-digit national number, no more area codes.  So assuming that is a phone number, I'm thinking it can't be younger than '96 and is certainly much older - I just don't know how much.

The fact that "Made In France" appears in English would lead me to believe that it was printed for sale in the United Kingdom.

The French telephone numbers had 7 digits until October 1985 (xxx.xx.xx), then 8 till October 1996 (xx.xx.xx.xx), and now 10

[Don Boyer]

Ask and it shall be given 

In case its too small. It reads -
Editions J.C. Dusserre - Paris - 589.40.21
Maitres Cartiers Boechat Freres
Made In France

I'd wager that the seven digits following "Paris" are a telephone number.

Tried to do some research on the French phone system to determine when seven digits were used.  Best I could find was that by 1996-97, they switched from two-digits area codes and eight-digit numbers to a combined ten-digit national number, no more area codes.  So assuming that is a phone number, I'm thinking it can't be younger than '96 and is certainly much older - I just don't know how much.

The fact that "Made In France" appears in English would lead me to believe that it was printed for sale in the United Kingdom.

The French telephone numbers had 7 digits until October 1985 (xxx.xx.xx), then 8 till October 1996 (xx.xx.xx.xx), and now 10

So we can now say that, in all likelihood, the deck is not younger then 1985, certainly in the category of vintage.

[CARTORAMA]

And without likelihood we can say that the deck was issued in 1981. Apart from the Fournier catalog, it would be possible to specify this by checking the collector's journals that review the new publications, such as Playing Card World, or in this case As de Trèfle.

[PurpleIce]

Hi people,

As usual, i buy stuff which i have no idea what they are or what they are worth. So i need some expertise help again.

If any of you can help, do let me know on the history of this deck and if they are worth anything?

The deck "Première Guerre Mondiale" by Editions Dusserre was issued in 1981 (Fournier catalogue FRA 561). It might be worth something like $10 or 20 depending on the condition.

Thanks for the information!!!!!