A collection of Georgian-era gaming counters issued by London clubs…

small, round coin

A collection of six gaming counters or monetary tokens from the gambling houses and clubs of Georgian London. Four were made by John Milton (signed “J. Milton f.” or “J.M” on the smaller pieces) with an ace of spades encircled with the quote “Honi soit qui mal y pense”, wreathed and crowned. The two others by Milton have on the obverse the initials “S.F.” (S. Fiuri, in Bury Street St. Mary Axe) and the date “1 May 1792” and a value of “XII” or “VI”. The two other Milton counters are marked “S&L” indicating Smith & Lockwood and the other “JL” for John Lister in Haymarket. Another small token in white metal issued by the “Cocoa Tree” with the value on the obverse “One guinea”. The last counter in gilt-brass issued by “Free Mason Tavern” and marked “462′ in the center and on the obverse “M. Richold Guina.” with laurels above and below.

  • Title: A collection of Georgian-era gaming counters issued by London clubs and gaming houses.
  • Production: [England], [approximately 1790-1820]

Catalog Record

66 790 C697

Acquired November 2023

 

The late and much lamented Princess Charlotte

side profile of woman from the waist up, wearing a floral crown

  • Title: The late and much lamented Princess Charlotte of Saxe Coburg [graphic] : who departed this life Novr. 6th, 1817.
  • Publication: London : Published Novr. 20th, 1817, by R. Miller, Old Fish Stt, [20 November 1817]

Catalog Record

File 56 C47 817L

Acquired July 2023

Beggar’s opera playing cards

cards mounted with photo corners onto 3 display boards, encapsulated in clear plastic, each board 40 x 54.5 cm

Each card shows music and lyrics from John Gay’s Beggar’s opera and a small standard playing card inset in the upper left corner; red suits with stencil colored pips; no tax stamp; maker’s details on king of clubs, 10 of spades and ace of hearts.

  • Printmaker: Bowles, Carington, 1724-1793, printmaker.
  • Title: [Beggar’s opera playing cards].
  • Publication: [London] : Printed for Carington Bowles, No. 69 in St. Pauls Church Yard, London, [approximately 1770]

Catalog Record

File 55 G25 S770++

Acquired June 2023

Address of the Brass Founders and Braziers

printed text

Printed on silk, within decorative borders. Engraved portrait of “Caroline Queen of England” beneath title.
Broadside addressed from the Brass Founders and Braziers in support of Queen Caroline in October 1820, a month before the withdrawal of the Pains and Penalties Bill which aimed to annul Caroline’s marriage to George IV. Beneath the address is a response from Queen Caroline together with an ‘Order of the Procession’ in support of the queen.

  • Title: Address of the Brass Founders and Braziers. To Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Caroline. : … Presented this thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty …
  • Publication: [London] : Printed and published by J. Cowie, 58 Shoe Lane, Holborn, [1820]

Catalog Record

File 53 C292 820Ad++

Acquired July 2023

 

Britons! Look on these pictures

printed text

A broadside illustrated with engraved head-and-shoulders portraits of Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold at top of sheet followed by 29 lines of letterpress text mourning the death of the Charlotte on November 6th, 1817.

  • Title: Britons! Look on these pictures, and while you deplore the untimely loss of the one, and worthily sympathise in the acute grief of the other of the illustrious originals, endeavour to imitate the public and domestic virtues which have so eminently distinguished both. …
  • Publication: [London?] : [published not identified], [1817]

Catalog Record

File 56 C47 817B

Acquired July 2023

To the memory of the Princess Charlotte of Wales

printed text

Broadside, with three paragraphs of text within thick mourning border and initialed ‘J.W.L.’ at the end. ‘From the Morning Post of Nov. 11th’ printed in lower left. Beneath the title are three lines quoted from Lord Lyttleton’s ‘To the memory of the same lady, a monody. A.D. 1747.’

  • Title: To the memory of the Princess Charlotte of Wales.
  • Publication: [England?] : [publisher not identified], [1817]

Catalog Record

File 56 C47 817To

Acquired July 2023

Memento. : Drunkenness expels reason, drowns the memory…

printed text

Engraved, with letterpress imprint and ornamental border and with a vignette above showing a street scene at night, with one man vomitting as he is supported by two companions. Across the street under a street light, a prostitute waves at the men.

 

  • Title: Memento. : Drunkenness expels reason, drowns the memory, distempers the body …
  • Publication: [Alnwick] : Davison, printer, Alnwick, [not after 1858]

Catalog Record

File 66 858 M533

Acquired November 2022

Designs for Georgian playing cards

description below

Three playing cards, or transformation cards, drawn in pen and ink by an unidentified artist, showing caricatured figures using the shape of the pip, only hearts or diamonds (red watercolor) in this incomplete set. One of the cards (two hearts) features two gentlemen meeting. The other two cards (three of diamonds) feature a lady with a fan and two gentleman in one card; the other incomplete, has a lady with a fan and only one gentleman.

 

  • Title: [Designs for Georgian playing cards] [art original].
  • Production: [England], [between 1800 and 1820?]

Catalog Record

Drawings Un58 no. 96

Acquired August 2022

Designs for transformation playing cards

description below
description below

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Four drawings, each depicting a different character with their face in the form of a heart: a man drinking; a man with a pipe; a violinist; and an elegant lady.
Eleven drawings, each depicting a different character with their face in the form of a heart: a man playing a flute; a dour-looking cleryman; a coachman; a vendor wearing a turban; a man in a tricorne hat; an obese man in an armchair with medicine on a side table; a man smoking a pipe. Also two cards wtih older woman clutching a blanket around her shoulders; a pretty young women with a highly decorated hat with feathers and her hands in a muff; and, a female ballad sheet vendor.

 

  • Artist: Dubuisson, Elizabeth, artist.
  • Title: [Designs for transformation playing cards] [art original].
  • Production: [England], [approximately 1830]

Catalog Record

Drawings D821 no. 1

Acquired December 2022