I was happy to find the article about the Canadian collector who acquired what appear to be twoIOUs or redeemable chits for bottles (?) of rum, created using playing cards, attributed to aCanadian merchant. I happen to have a large exhibit I've been showing at SoCal venues thisyear, which I plan to spring on the ANA when it convenes in Anaheim in 2016, entitled"Variations on a Theme of Playing Card Money."

First, to attract the attention of US collectors, I provide background information on theextremely rare and valuable government-issued Canadian playing card money. I show a recent set ofcolorful commemorative coins, but only a photo of an actual example. (I don't own any but in mydefense I cite auction prices in 4 and 5 figures.) However, following that intro are twohalfway-decent (no tape) pieces of very rare playing card money issued by a French municipality(billets de confiance) during the Revolution.

Those are followed by my large collection of playing card promissory notes filled withcounter-writing not only signed and dated, but bearing intact wax seals from an expatriate Frenchnobleman who was supplying the Monarchist resistance back home in Normandy with mercenary soldiersfrom Brussels.

That section is followed by paper and porcelain notgeld and a coin which feature card games withlocal ties, to wit: Altenburg, Germany - Skat; and Switzerland - Jass; together with multiple decksof those cards. Finally, I show a deck of modern gold-foil playing cards that "reflect"500 euro notes. I was embarrassed to include that cheesy tail end of the exhibit, but of course itattracted the most audience attention by far! I hope the judges at the ANA are more impressed bythe historic repurposed hand-painted antiques, which got me going on this.

In my scan of six playing cards, the top two should definitely qualify as "playing cardmoney," since they are local government issues from 1791. The municipality was Saint-Maixent,in Deux-Sèvres département. The very first card is a king of clubs. The French specialized bookabout such things, Les billets de confiance de la Révolution française 1790 - 1793, MauriceKolsky, 2004, estimates that there are three or fewer examples of each denomination of these piecesknown (R5), but I doubt that is correct.

The other four are fronts and backs of some of my promissory card/notes, issued from Brusselsand signed and dated in 1792 by the marquis of Bailleul, Angerville-Bailleul, Haut-Normandie, to beconveyed by mercenaries into Normandy, where they were exchanged for military uniforms. Itranslated the text on both sides of one of the cards for my exhibit.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
ARTICLE PROFILES CANADIAN COLLECTOR GEORGEMANZ (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n44a20.html)