Magarick's Antique Cards 2

Hodges Geographical C. 1828 Printed by Stopworth & Sons. A stunning deck, partially illuminated with each pip card displaying a different map. The courts are absolutely exquisite representing various royality with the notable exception of the King of Hearts below which illustrates George Washington stomping on the crown of England. This is one of two packs published around the same time. The other being the Astrominical deck.

Hodges has always been one of my favorite decks. It came from the collection of Gene Hochman many years ago. Gene reluctantly sold the pack after confessing that the money realized from it would buy his wife a new fur coat. So Gene said "If you want the deck, you gotta pay me at least what it would cost to by the coat." At the time it was a lot of money. Still is! But I had to have it. (You know the feeling.) So I got a terrific deck, and Gene's wife got the fur coat.

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Cartes a Rire...or Funny Cards published in France about 1819. There were two transformations published around the same time attributed to Baron Louis Atthalin. One the Theater version which displays theatrical sites and themes on the court cards (shown here), and the other a topical deck dealing with journalism of the day. The pip cards on both decks are identical.

I've always appreciated the beautiful coloring of these hand colored packs. I remember getting one from Stuart Kaplan at his N.Y office. He had just bought a collection, and was selling off many of the non tarot and tarok decks.The typical French humor is illustrated in the ace of spades (not shown)
with it's scatological theme.

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