A set of 17th-century, German, silver playing cards will auction in New York next month and could realise as much as $800,000.
The cards are a full set of 52. Described by auctioneers Christie’s as “extremely rare” and from the collection of the founder of Mothercare.
The set is signed by a probable maker, “M. frömmer” (Michael Frommer), and are from Augsburg in Germany. They have a long, royal provenance.
The cards use the Italian suits: Swords, Batons, Cups and Coins. The Knave (jack) of Swords is signed and the Ace of Batons is dated 1616.
Each card is 8.6 cm high and 5 cm wide.
Christie’s report that the cards were “by tradition” presented in 1810 by Infanta Carlota Joaquina of Spain to Doña Josefa Oribe y Viana de Contucci, who was the wife of Felipe Contucci, Princess Carlota’s emissary in South America. The wife of a president of Uruguay, General Manuel Oribe, had them at one point.
A close up of one of the cards, which are beautifully detailed. Image courtesy of Christie’s.
The Infanta was a Spanish princess who became Queen Consort of Portugal when she married King Dom John VI.
She was not popular with the new court or the Portuguese people and she died alone, confined to one of Lisbon’s royal palaces.
The cards are being sold as part of the Selim and Mary Zilkha collection at Christie’s on February 8, and are not the most valuable item by estimate.
That is a Classical Roman-style silver tazza, made in the late 16th century and probably from the Netherlands. It could realise as much as $3 million.
Selim Zilkha was an Iraqi-born businessman who is best known in the UK as the founder of Mothercare. With his second wife, Mary, he amassed a large and significant collection of gold and silver, much of which he used in his everyday life – though according to Christie’s not these cards.
The Guinness book of records records a 15th-Century set of cards, the earliest known complete, hand-painted deck, sold for £99,000 in 1983 as the most valuable ever sold.
