Australian made playing cards.
Dating and assigning a manufacturer to Australian cards prior to 1932 is quite difficult. However I believe there are certain clues that enable us to date this deck. It was probably made by Detmold in about 1915 to18. or very soon after the 1st WW when Australia was just beginning to rebel against the mother country twelve thousand miles away. It is the irreverent nature of the deck that leads me to think this. for a start the emu and kangaroo are on the wrong sides of the emblem and the emblem itself has no images or references to GB at all. The Ace and the Joker are very unusual and extremely hard to find today and the box also tells of Australia's anti establishment nature at the time as the terms "Full House" & "Squeezers" are blatant copies taken from the names of American decks at this time. 52 + 1 and nice condition overall and very unusual.