In this period (these cards are from 1790-1810), card for stationery purposes was not available. It was therefore common for discarded packs to be used for writing, printing and many other purposes. This is described as 'Secondary Use'.
This is a surprisingly significant set of Secondary Use cards. The top item is a Queen of Spades of a design widely associated with forgeries. These are believed to have been made in Belgium although, to date, there has been little evidence. On the reverse of this card, we see an invitation to a funeral service at the Church of St Jean-Baptiste au grand Beguinage which is in Brussels. This strongly supports the view that these forgeries originated in Belgium. Below this card we show the Queen of Spades from a "Blanchard" pack on this website, A14 , which is clearly very similar.
