DELESI RED 1962

Delesi deck with De La Rue branding, but likely made by Waddingtons for W H Smiths, newsagents and stationers in the UK, circa 1962. One joker and 52 standard cards. The Délési (later without the acute accents) brand for W.H. Smith & Son started with the bridge-width Goodall G7 courts before World War I and then the cards changed to the De La Rue version of the whist cards after their take-over of Goodall, GD10 in the 1920s and 30s, then GDW12 until the litho courts GDW13 took over c.1980. But in the early 1990s Smith's changed to the USPCC as their supplier with US5 courts (originally designed by the American Banknote Co). Nowadays their cards are provided by Carta Mundi and the old brand name has been dropped.