Vintage Thingie Thursday - Cheery Families

Hi Everybody, Happy VTT!

This week I am sharing a charming card game that I picked up two summers ago in Vermont.  It was not really in my budget that day, and the box is not exactly in mint condition, but I just could not resist the illustrations.

This is a Victorian-era card game called Cheery Families.

One of the greatest things about Vintage Thingie Thursday is that I've learned so much about my own vintage objects.  I did a little bit of research on this game when I first got it home (just enough to make sure I hadn't overpaid), but in order to make this post interesting, I did a little more.

This game was produced by Thomas De La Rue & Co. who's designs for playing cards are the basis for the modern standard design.  The company still exists today as De La Rue and is a security printing, papermaking, and cash handling systems company*.

Cheery Families is De La Rue's version of Happy Families, which spun off a whole genre of card games and is one of the most popular card games ever invented.  I found this information here, where you can also see some examples of these other games.

In each of these games there are thirteen families of four which are meant to be collected by each player during the game.  Each family has a father, mother, son and daughter.  Here are a few of the families:

See now why I couldn't resist?  Cheery Families was illustrated by Richard Doyle, who's initials are found in the gardener's pot below.

Richard Doyle illustrated for Dickens, Thackeray, Ruskin and Punch magazine and he was the uncle of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries.

With all this new information, holding these cards feels like holding a little bit of history and I'm even happier now with this purchase!

And you can see a few more of the cards here.

Thank you, Suzanne, for all the work you do putting this together every week.  I might never have found all this great information if I weren't sharing these cards for VTT.

I hope you've enjoyed this post, here is the link to visit all of the other participants. Have fun!

Anna

*Another interesting tidbit I found:  De La Rue sold their card making business to Waddingtons in 1969.  Much earlier, Waddingtons became the publisher of Monopoly in the United Kingdom.  In 1941, the British Secret Service had them create a special edition of the game for POWs held by the Germans.  This edition held maps, compasses, real money and other objects to help them escape.  They were distributed to the POWs by private, often fictitious, aid organizations - and not by the Red Cross as has become the urban legend.  Waddingtons was acquired by Hasbro in 1994.

 

Comments

[LaVoice]

No doubt it is vintage. In all my days, I never saw that game. What a good find and still in playing condition. You furnished a good history on it as well.

[Brandy@Crafty Housewife]

I saw your link at VTT, I love the card game you have! It's very unique and such a neat history to go along with it!

[postcardy]

Your game is very interesting. I wouldn't be able to resist it either. I never heard of any of those games before.

[Janet Smart]

those are so neat! I love the illustrations on the cards.

[Betsy]

I would have bought these cards too. I love the graphics and humor, just adorable;-)

[coloradolady]

Wow, what a great game. I have never seen anything like this before! I love that VTT does provide an outlet to learn something new all the time! That is so fun!! Have a great VTT!

[Ann Creek]

This is definately a rare find. I would love to own this too, and the price has got to be worth what you had to pay. The illustrations are so unique, just love the characters in the families. Such a fantastic buy.
Happy VTT
Ann

[Maureen @ The Green Suitcase]

Wow - cool cards. Both the graphics and captions are really comical.

[GardenOfDaisies]

What wonderful old cards. And the info about the cards that were distributed during the war is fascinating! I have a few sets of vintage children's cards, and will have to post about those one of these weeks.

[jeanne]

I have seen tons of vintage games and this is a new one. Lucky find and very interesting. Your tidbit was very interesting info about the game of Monopoly.

Hugs, Jeanne

[Genie Robinson]

Anna...I have never seen a vintage game like this. Trust me, I would have bought it no matter what they wanted for it because of the illustrations. They are wonderful. Also, thanks for doing the research and sharing all of the info on the company, illustrator, and the game itself. This is a super-duper post. I loved it.

Thanks for visiting my Buttons for Baga and commenting on my little perfume bottle. I hope you will come back again. This old gal absolutely loves her visitors and loves to visit their blogs.

Hugs,
Genie

[Tallulah's Antique Closet]

I luv the art work on the cards. And also thank You for your visit today....Julian

[Pam]

Great game. And thanks for all the research you did on it. Very interesting!