Marie Antoinette's

I wanted to share this great find! Pimpernel Clothing is offering a line of playing cards recreated after historic decks.  If you get a chance take a look at all the sets. Some of  include "Fortune Telling" and "Arms of English Peers" (always useful!)

I think they would make not only great gifts, but would be perfect to set out at a party!  There are seven sets of cards in total and on the website each set comes with its own mini-history and many images.  These are some of my favorites, I love their descriptions!

A Sunday Tradition in these parts is to go to the horse races dressed to impress. And that means don’t forget the hat. Heather and I chose hats from the 1780’s, and they were quite the buzz last Sunday.

Fashionable ladies from the past were, clearly, known to grace the tracks! In 1779, in England, few lady-patronesses graced the turf, but among the few you could sill find Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire!

In 1776 a horse track was built in France, near Fontainebleau, modeled after those in England. In a letter to Maria Theresa, Comte de Mercy described it as, “a puerile parody,’’ and goes on to explain that a special stand was built for Marie Antoinette to view the races from. Her stand was surrounded by a, “concourse of unsuitable persons, young and ill-clothed, making much confusion and noise.”

Well he was just not a fan of races!

"I went to the first race-day on horse back; and I took great care to keep in the crowd at some distance from the Queen's pavilion, into which all the young men entered, booted and en chenille [riding dress]. In the evening the Queen, who had perceived me, asked me, while at play, why I did not come up into her pavilion at the races. I answered, loudly enough to be heard by the many feather-pates present, that the reason I had not come was that I was in riding boots and dress and that I had never been accustomed to imagine one could appear before the Queen in such attire."

He was just as miserable on the second race-day, appalled at the Queen and Madame Elisabeth being there and at the Comte d'Artois (right) who was running about placing enormous bets and whining about how sick he was of always being cheated at both races and cards.

But how devoted were our fashionable ladies?

“Of Balls at the Opera, where the Queen stayed all night, came back to Versailles at half-past six in the morning and went off again at ten to the races.”

Dedication!

Well, I am off to the races now, (with a bit more than 3 ½ hours of sleep!)

What else to do for pleasure! Gambling dear! Darling how are you! I just lost a nasty hand at this horrid game! Well sweetie I put ten on black already and can you place thirty or forty on red for me too? Let me know how it works out, they are saving me a seat at the card table!

And it was all the rage to end a beautiful night with gaming, especially when the day is full of rituals and visits. It wasn't just them men in the 18th century, who played like pros - ladies were well known for their trifles at the tables. In fact women are more prone to gambling addiction, but at the time there was no big fuss when it came to gambling unless you were not paying your debts! for shame!

In 1635 in Italy the first ridotto, gambling casino, was opened. Not much longer after that were ridottos public and private establishments and they attracted all classes. Even more fun, there was no dress codes and persons would come to play masked or wearing disguises. Now I always complain that the men at the poker table at the world poker tour who wear sun-glasses are cheating. But now that is see it is an age old tradition of arriving incognito, I am okay with it!

In France there were several loteries, many were private, but in the 18th century the private loteries were merged into one big one, loterie royale. According to fellow scholar, Heather, artists would design the tickets for the loterie, how fab! Even churches used loteries for a source of architectural funding. In fact, we can thank the French for the playing cards we use today. They developed the suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades) and colors!

"French card masters also started the practice of assigning identities to the royals pictured on their court cards. All of the court cards (not just the kings) were named, and the identities assigned to them (and printed on the cards) were by no means consistent...the choice of names differed from master to master with no apparent reason behind them other than personal preference or whim."

I think I would have Du Berry as my Queen of Diamonds and the Duchess of Devonshire a Queen of Spades. ooo now I must assign my whole deck! (project of next weekend!!)

They also came up with a production/printing method to facilitate quick manufacturing of cards making France a leader in playing card manufacturing, even beating Germany in production! England adopted the french cards and soon the rest of Europe followed.

Well some of my favorite girls were no strangers to gaming.

The Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana, was an old pro and she was slick about it too. First of all (and I know my boyfriend would LOVE if I did this in our house) she had taken the drawing room of her house and turned it into a gaming room. It was no small feat, she went all out. (And I suppose I might do this if someone lent me the funding) But Georgiana made the whole room,

"resemble a professional gaming house, complete with hired croupiers and a commercial faro bank."

That right there is dedication. Girl was smooth too. One account recalls her arriving at a party (and my interpretation is that she had one too many cocktails that night) and asking to join a game. She had no money and wanted to borrow from the bank. House rules said no borrowing from the bank so someone let the sexy broad some money. She was unlucky with it and finally managed to have the house-bank lend her some. She was caught up in excitement when she won on her hand, and smiling, triumphantly left the party. Of course in all that excitement she neglected to repay the bank but who is paying attention to details anyway!

Georgiana fell into debt however and this is not just in England, she was estimated to have the debt of £50,000 in France alone.

"A gamester goes on in the vain hope of recovering lost sums, til he looses probably all that remains, and along with it everything which is precious."

However a good thought, it was still accepted [gaming] and had been accepted as a natural occupation of mankind.

The French court partook themselves. And enjoyed. Marie Antoinette spent fortunes gambling. After a typical day for her, "she would contrive to lose five or six hundred or a thousand louis d'or at Lansquenet, or other game of hazard." She even had a super cute little purse for a set of cards!

But before we take a severe tone at this habit, an interesting fact noted by Tea At Trianon, was that she was introduced to gambling when she was just a child in Austria. Her mother, who did not participate in her daughters education to any extreme, did find that it was important for her children to be good at the game.

"A princess who could not play well would soon be separated from her money. Furthermore the stakes at the court of Austria were much higher than at the court of France, which made Antoinette an intrepid player."

Louis put the ca-bosh on her fun when France reached horrible debts, and as T.A.T. points out:

" [Louis] was trying to save the government finances and give an example of thrift, forbade her to play anymore games of chance. She begged her husband to let her have one last game. He gave permission, and naughty Antoinette made sure the game went on for three days. Louis was disgusted."