RARE Old Antique RAJA RAVI VARMA Square Corner Playing Cards INDIAN ARTIST Art

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RARE Old Antique RAJA RAVI VARMA Square Corner Playing Cards INDIAN ARTIST Art:
$14500.00

Condition is as can be seen in the scans and photos ... 52 + J, in what could be unplayed with condition - the AS + 2S + 3S + 4S have a little damage to one corner, no creased cards, hardly any soiling, age colouring of card as expected ... the playing cards are just made from card and do not appear treated in any way = pretty crude manufacture. No box.These cards are not just rare, they’re unique.
I enjoyed researching this pack, and I feel I’ll give you a good insight into the cards by letting you read part of an article that I wrote last year regarding these playing cards that have a name link to one of India’s greatest artists, Raja Ravi Varma ...Search pretty much anything and Google will spit out multiple related hits. Not so with Ravi Varma Press playing cards. One solitary hit ... an article written by Kishor Gordhandas on craft revival(there are now two hits, the other a US forum post in search of information on RVP playing cards). Mr Gordhandas had viewed images in 1992 of some Ravi Varma cards and set about trying to find more. Despite concerted effort he was unable to unearth any other RVP cards whatsoever.
With great interest I read the article, re-reading the final paragraphs a few times to fully digest them. As it sank in that RVP playing cards were incredibly scarce, I became excited to contact Mr Gordhandas and inform him that I had a complete RVP pack with different court cards to the Mythological and to the Historical packs illustrated on the website. Both the Mythological and the Historical packs have rounded corners, yet this ‘new’ pack of mine has square corners, leading me to believe this ‘new’ pack is actually older than the two known packs. The AS is also a different design, similar to the Historical pack, but with quite a few differences.
The court cards are not named, and my knowledge of historical India does not extend to identifying the significant characters that adorn this pack. I welcome any information or lead a keen reader may wish to pass my way regarding the possible names of those depicted on the court cards or regarding the general history of Ravi Varma Press playing cards
I believe the original article on RVP playing cards was written in 2008, and I was saddened to learn that Mr Gordhandas had passed away the following year. I feel from reading the article that he would’ve been delighted to see these cards of mine.
I offer this unique pack of Indian Royalty cards for your consideration.
These would certainly be a wonderful addition to any collection.Please enlarge the picture so that you can view the cards and their condition in greater detail.
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