Playing card

This is the three of diamonds, one of a pack of 53 playing cards engraved in 1691 by Walter Scott, an Edinburgh goldsmith. The cards show the royal arms and arms of the Scottish nobility who sat in Parliament.

The arms of the Scottish Lords Balfour, Ker, Drummond and Elphingston (of Couper) are depicted on this card.

By the sixteenth century, thousands of European card makers were producing millions of packs of cards, however few survive from that time. The first heraldic cards were probably those made by Claude Oroncé Finé, M. de Brianville in Lyons in 1658-9.

Record details

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Online ID:	000-190-000-816-C
Image Rights Holder:	National Museums Scotland
Project:	0098: National Museums Scotland Project description \| View all records in project
Ref:	National Museums Scotland H.NS 211
Date:	1691
Material:
Dimensions:	80 mm H x 60 mm W
What:	Card, playing / photograph
Subject:
Who:	Lyon Office Walter Scott, Edinburgh (Maker)
Where:	Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh
Event:
Description:	Pack of playing-cards with the arms of the Scottish nobility, by Walter Scott, Edinburgh, 1691, comprising 53 cards in all together with a photograph of the missing seven of hearts
References:	Mann, Sylvia. Collecting Paying Cards. USA: Bell Publishing Company Inc. 1967, p 122.
Translations:
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