Early Stamps
For whatever reason, the kings and queens of England felt entitled to some money from each card deck made, starting from 1588 and only abolishing the taxation in the 1960s. Although I believe that the British government did not need more money to fund their global colonization during this time, some pretty cool designs came from this. Prior to 1765, taxation would be proved by a stamp on the ace of spades, such as the ones below:
Hand stamps used 1712-1765. https://i-p-c-s.org/images/faq/vipencenonum2.jpg
Unfortunately for us, these stamps, posted on the International Playing-Card Society’s website, are apparently the only record of these stamps on the internet and look like they’ve been through whatever the digital equivalent of a garburator is. Despite the low resolution, these stamps are beautiful displays of design, my favourite being the middle one. I love the ornate frame, and how the simple dots and lines represent a royal crown.
Ornamented Aces
In 1765, the tax office decided to make aces way fancier. Now in order to prove that the card maker had paid the increasingly ridiculous tax price, their deck must include the incredibly ornate ace of spades. The English took this very seriously, as forging an ace was punishable by death for some reason.
Again, it’s difficult to appreciate these as they are very low-quality digitisations of the cards. I love the excessive decoration around the simple spade, and the old-timey banner at the bottom really ties it all together. Also notice the incorporation of the card maker’s name at the bottom of each design.
Old Frizzle
In 1828, the tax on cards was greatly reduced, but this in no way meant that the tax office was going to loosen up with their design of the ace of spades. Instead, they added more intricate leaves, beautiful patterns, a lion, a unicorn, and an incredibly detailed spade. Behold: Old Frizzle.
She is outstanding. The tax office absolutely outdid themselves, and for what? The contrived taxation of a deck of cards? I may not understand the logic of the effort put into this card, but I can admire it. This sort of overzealous decoration is pretty much the antithesis of contemporary design as this spade violently rejects Ockham’s Razor. I theorize that the British simply wanted to prove their wealth and extravagance in the most obnoxious way possible. Old Frizzle may not be the last decorated spade, but it was probably the height. Perhaps we’ll explore how the spade evolves next time…
References:
https://i-p-c-s.org/faq/ace-of-spades.php
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