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It all began for me around 1995 when, while visiting a flea market, I discovered this small and strange object. I was far from imaging that it could be declined in so many different forms, matters and colors ...

The game of Whist
Whist is a very old playing cards game that appeared in England during the 17th century. Reference of this game can be found in the English literature as soon as 1621, but it is from 1742, with the publication of "A short treatise on the game of Whist" of Edmond Hoyle that the game really begins to become popular in England. Little by little, the "madness" for the Whist crosses the channel to arrive in the continent, and in particular in France. Whist is played by everyone from Marie-Antoinette, Napoleon, Queen Victoria to ... Phileas Fogg ! A lot of treaties appear during the 19th century, and the game arrives in the USA where it quickly becomes a hudge success. The best studies on the game appear in the years 1860-1880 with in particular Cavendish and William Pole. But it is already too late, and the game dissapears at the beginning of the 20th century after it gave birth to a new game : the bridge.

The Whist Marker
The Whist Marker is the object that was used to count the points at the game of Whist. We will not describe here the rules of the game of Whist, nor the way to count the points at this game, but we have to point out that its scoring system evolved with the years :
- until approximately the beginning of the 19th century, the winning team was the first to 10 points (Long Whist)
- After the beginning of the 19th century, the winning team was the first to win 2 games of 5 points (Short Whist)

Of course, Whist Markers also followed this scoring system evolution, which provide us with such a Whist Markers diversity ...