my playing card collection
Until the abolition of the tax on playing cards, French card makers were allowed to print from their own moulds only foreign or non-standard patterns, on paper without a watermark. The design of these tax exempted cards had to be clearly distinguishable from the portrait officiel and must not use the names Charles, Argine, Hogier etc.
Under these conditions, several patterns were designed in France, different from the portrait officiel, yet at the same time showing a strong resemblance to it. Closest and most successful was a pattern originally produced by B. P. Grimaud, Paris, c.1860. Because of it's popular use in Genoa and Belgium this pattern is now called the Belgium-Genoese pattern or sometimes just the Genoese pattern. More information can be found here...
The oldest editions are signed by the artist, Badoureau, most likely Louis Badoureau (1818 - after 1878). The main differences to the portrait officiel are that the valet of clubs has a triangular shield instead of an oval escutcheon.
On most variants (except those from Belgium) the traditional names Charles etc. are replaced by the name of the maker. The dividing lines of the cards do not have circles with a central dot. Often green replaces the more usual blue of the portrait officiel. The main feature for classification is the shield of the valet of clubs.
Grimaud’s product was used in Casinos, e.g. in Belgium and Spain, and it had an early and lasting success in the region of Genoa, replacing other patterns, e.g. the Sonet-Morin type. Around 1900 it conquered the Ottoman Empire, the Balkan states, and the Mediterranean from Algeria to Syria. In Belgium, card players were already using it in the 1890s, but it became the national pattern only after World War II.
This version was exported to Spain. On the right is the tax stamp on the Ace of hearts. It is the imported into Spain stamp used between 1904 and 1907.
