Lot 51*
'VOTES FOR WOMEN' PLAYING CARDS A complete set of WSPU playing cards, belonging to Mary Phillips
Ending from 20 November 2025, 12:00 GMT
Online, London, Knightsbridge£600 - £800
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'VOTES FOR WOMEN' PLAYING CARDS
A complete set of 52 WSPU playing cards, versos with 'Votes for Women' roundel on a background of broad prison arrow symbols, printed in purple, white and green, in original green card slip case within outer printed box, worn and marked, 97 x 68mm., [c.1910]
Footnotes
MARY PHILLIPS' SET OF PLAYING CARDS, believed to have been used by her whilst awaiting sentence at Bow Street Court.
'The translation of the mechanics of the women's suffrage campaign into board and card games was a masterstroke that originated from within the Women's Social and Political Union. Not only were funds raised, but the message of the cause was brought into domestic circles where more rabid propaganda might not have been welcomed' (Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement, A Reference Guide 1866-1928, 1999, p.235). This conventional deck of cards was published by DeLarue and Company '...whose face cards were indistinguishable from those of a typical pack. The back of each card, however, reflected its true intent...' (Kenneth Florey, Women's Suffrage Memorabilia: An Illustrated Historical Study, 2013, p.113).
Provenance: Mary Phillips Collection, Sotheby's, 'Valuable Autograph Letters, Literary Manuscripts and Historical Documents', 29 June 1982, lot 62.