Richard Harding

Richard Harding (1770 – 13 November 1805) was a British forger. He was capitally indicted and convicted of the forgery of brass duty legal stamps placed on the Ace of Spades and the selling and uttering of playing cards with the same, while knowing such duty stamp to be false. He was hanged at the Old Bailey, London, England in 1805. Duty on playing cards In England, during the 19th century, under the Stamp Act 1712 playing card manufacturers required a license, a duty legal stamp that incorporated the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom to be placed on the ace of spades, known as the "duty card" or colloquially called the "duty ace" or "Old Frizzle" and a regulated label appended to the wrapper of the pack of playing cards. The brass duty legal stamps were kept at the office of the Stamp Commissioner and the stamped duty cards with the name of the card maker on them and the same number of labels were delivered to the card marker. These laws and regulations were to enforce the excise duty tax levied on every pack of playing cards. Card makers faced a monetary penalty for not following the laws under the Stamp Act. A playing card manufacturer without a license could neither obtain a legal stamp for the ace of spades nor a regulated label placed on the wrapper of the pack of playing cards. An illegal manufacturer of playing cards would have to forge the brass legal stamp placed on the ace of spades and create a counterfeit label for the wrapper. In England, forgery and uttering was a capital offence in 1805.