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Manufacturing of playing cards in New Zealand started in the 1880s. Despite this early start, there have not been many manufacturers of playing-cards.
Window display at Whitcombe & Tombs (now Whitcoulls), Christchurch (1912). Mostly showing foreign-made cards: Goodall & Congress.
ยฉ Alexander Turnbull Library, used with permission: 1/1-003979-G
The main โlinesโ of manufacturers are (or were):
Tax Stamps
Playing cards imported into New Zealand were taxed from 1860, and stamped from 1880 until the tax ended in 1930.A All examples I have seen have been stamped on the .
Tax stamp dated 14th March, 1913, on imported โ1001 Aladdinโ cards made by the National Card Co. of Indianapolis & New York.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
Tax stamp dated 21st June, 1929, on imported โCongressโ brand cards made by the United States Playing Card Co. in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
Undated tax stamp from A. D. Willis cards.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
Manufacturers
John Dickinson/Croxley
John Dickinson was a stationery company based in the United Kingdom that opened a New Zealand branch (โJohn Dickinson & Co.โ) in 1920.B โCroxleyโ was their public brand of stationery products in New Zealand (the UK company originated in Croxley Green), under which they also published playing cards. As far as I know, the UK company never manufactured cards.
The Joker card (with the non-pictorial decks) remains unchanged throughout the years, aside from reproduction infelicities.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
In 1966 the UK company merged with E. S. & A. Robinson to form โDickinsonโRobinson Groupโ; the New Zealand firm was renamed to โThe Dickinson Robinson Groupโ for a few months from 19 Dec 1968 โ 26 Mar 1969, and then โDRG (New Zealand) Limitedโ until they were liquidated in 1994.C
Croxley remained around as its own company, but closed its last manufacturing plant in 2005.D The brand itself still exists, being owned by OfficeMax. However, it may soon disappear forever as OfficeMax closed all of its New Zealand stores in late 2020,A victim of Covid-19. and is now online-only. Current Croxley cards appear to be made in China and only retain the Ace as a nod to the Dickinson line.
The aces have changed over the years to match the name of the company; the later aces are often poor copies of the earlier ones, where detail has been lost.
An early โJohn Dickinson & Co.โ Realm Ace.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
A โJohn Dickinsonโ Ace.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
A โDRGโ Ace.
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A โCroxleyโ Realm Ace, purchased 2021.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
The earlier (pre-DRG) cards are most easily identified by a index which has a turned-in tail, but this feature is lost in the DRG cards which shifted to a sans-serif index.
An early โJohn Dickinson & Co.โ Realm Jack, printed in four colours.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
A โJohn Dickinsonโ Jack, printed in two colours.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
A โDRGโ Jack, with portrait reduced in size and sans-serif indices. There is visible degradation of the linework.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
A โCroxleyโ Realm Jack, with courts no longer derived from the John Dickinson pattern.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
At one point, DRG produced Waddingtonโs cards in New Zealand, under licence. Note the text on the Ace and the small ยฎ on the joker.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
Cards from a DRG-produced Canasta set. Note that the Joker is the same as Strong & Readyโs. It is possible DRG took over this design from them (the rest of the deck is standard DRG).
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
The curled- index on the pre-DRG cards is useful in identifying tourist pictorial decks where the card images are replaced by photographs of scenic locations, so that the Ace gives no identifying information. The following cards are from a deck produced before 1958:
A pictorial card with the characteristic index.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
The back of the card deck, showing a woman performing with poi.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
The joker of the deck, featuring a hei-tiki. Note that this rather offensively reduces a taonga to the status of a jester.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
The Dickinson and DRG cards are probably most often found with backs designed for tourists, depicting locations around New Zealand, or New Zealand wildlife:
Croxley/John Dickinson & Co. card back showing a Tลซฤซ.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
Croxley/John Dickinson & Co. card back showing a Fantail.
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Croxley/John Dickinson card back showing the Ferrier fountain.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
John Dickinson card back showing the Queenstown gondola (the first in the southern hemisphere).
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
Croxley/DRG card back showing Aoraki / Mount Cook.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
A. D. Willis/Weeks Ltd./United Empire Box/Amcor
Playing cards, circa 1920, Whanganui, by A. D. Willis Ltd.
ยฉ Museum of Te Papa Tongarewa: GH007256
Archibald Dudingston Willis, circa 1902.
Archibald Dudingston Willis (1842โ1908)E was a very early manufacturer of playing cards in New Zealand who operated in Wanganui from the 1880s. In 1951 the company was sold to Weeks Ltd, which kept A. D. Willis as a subsidiary, and the business was sold in turn to United Empire Box (UEB) around 1964.FSome sources (including E) state 1949 here, but 1951 is corroborated by newspaper reports.G In the late 1980s the design was taken over by Kiwi Packaging (part of Amcor). This line of designs now appears to be out-of-print, as Amcor no longer manufacture playing cards.
Cards in the original A. D. Willis style, c. 1910.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
Cards in the later Willis style, this deck possibly produced by A. D. Willis. The deck is a 500 deck and includes s, s, and s. An unusual detail is that the tail of the index is truncated on the red cards.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
โHostessโ Canasta cards in the Willis style, as produced by Weeks Ltd. This deck retains the short tail on the red index.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
โStrandโ Cards in the Willis style, this deck probably made by UEB. The designs are redrawn from the original Willis design. This deck is unusual in that the paper is uncoated and the cards feel like plain cardboard, despite the box promising a โLinen Finishโ.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
โRoyalโ Cards in the Willis style, made by UEB in four colours. โKiwiโ on the box describes the card backs.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
An earlier โArcadeโ box as produced by Weeks Ltd.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
โArcadeโ Cards in the Willis style, produced by Amcor Cartons.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
UEB also produced pictorial souvenir decks, such as the one below.
Back and cards from a UEB tourist deck.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
An advertisement for A. D. Willisโs playing cards.
Strong & Ready/Tanner Couch
Strong & Ready Ltd. was registered from 1948โ1974.
Strong & Ready โElfinโ patience-sized playing cards.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
Strong & Ready cards from a Canasta deck, 1953.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
Strong & Ready Joker and Ace, from a โMark 1 Canastaโ deck.
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Tanner Couch Ace and Joker, from a โRoyal Flush 500โ deck.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
Foreign manufacturers
In addition to cards manufactured in New Zealand, cards featuring New Zealand scenes were manufactured in other countries, such as the United Kingdom.
Two card backs produced by Goodall under their โBoudoirโ brand, with art by Frank H. Mason. The left features Mount Taranaki / Egmont, and the right Lake Matheson.
ยฉ George Pollard ๐ ญ๐ ฏ๐๐
References
โจEndebrockโฉ, โจPeterโฉ (). โโจPlaying-Card Tax Stamps from New Zealandโฉโ [archived]. โจPeter Endebrockโs Playing-card Pagesโฉ.
โจCroxley Stationeryโฉ (publisher) (). โจCroxley Stationeryโฉ. โจCroxley Stationeryโฉ.
โจNew Zealand Companies Officeโฉ (publisher) (). โโจCompanies Register: DRNZ Limitedโฉโ [archived]. โจNew Zealand Companies Officeโฉ.
โจ1 NEWSโฉ (publisher) (). โโจCroxley confirms factory closure, 100 job lossesโฉโ [archived]. โจ1 NEWSโฉ: New Zealand.
โจGoodallโฉ, โจMichaelโฉ (). โโจA. D. WillisโโโAn Antipodean Cardmakerโฉโ. โจJournal of the International Playing-Card Societyโฉ vol.ย 16 (2), : pages 41โ43. Edited by โจTrevor Denningโฉ.
โจBlackโฉ, โจSandiโฉ (). โโจMuseum Notebook: Whanganui philanthropist also an astute businessmanโฉโ [archived]. โจWhanganui Chronicleโฉ, .
Anonymous (). โโจCompany NewsโโโWeekโs Limitedโs Accounts: A Year of Expansionโฉโ. โจThe Pressโฉ vol.ย 87 (26,523), : page 9. Christchurch, New Zealand.