Friday, May 24, 2024

J. A. Jost, Jost & Cie: gamemaker extraordinaire

I have found the Jean Anatole Jost (1860-1926) catalogues very useful for my pinball ancestry research.  According to Association Wellouëj (archive), Jost filed a patent for "le grimpeur au Mât de Cocagne" back in 1886.  The current archives for patents don't seem to go back that far, but hopefully they will eventually get digitized.

In this post we are covering this across a few sections:

  1. Catalogues
  2. Factory Negatives
  3. Games that Jost created
  4. Games that Jost improved upon
  5. Game Photographs
  6. Patents


Catalogues

I have uploaded a number of Jost catalogues to the Internet Archive.  Thank you to Patrick Carrière at Billards Anciens and James Masters at Masters Of Games for assistance.

J.A. Jost Catalogue 1890 - Manufacture De Jeux De Précision - Ancienne Maison Chevallier [PDF download]



This next catalogue is INCOMPLETE.  I believe it is from ~1922, as I think the "Catalogue No." generally aligns with the year of 1900.

I am assuming that catalogue No. 26 is from around 1926.
Jeu De Precision - Jost & Cie Catalogue No 26 [PDF download]

This next catalogue does not even mention Jost at all, but contains materials from their earlier catalogues.  On the back page you can see the imprint "1073 - 25.9.28".  My assumption is that second number is the catalogue date, September 25th, 1928.  
This next one is very similar to the one above, and appears to have been pasted inside the box of a roulette game.  It contains the roulette instructions, followed by a short catalogue.  It features J.A.J and J.A.L on the cover.


The following are images of covers of other catalogues.  If you have these or any other Jost material, please send me an email.  thetastates@gmail.com

1892 catalogue

The 1902 catalogue cover says "Catalogue No 2", which leads me to believe that there is a strong correlation between the catalogue numbers and the year in the 1900s.
1902 catalogue
One exception to that rule is the "Catalogue special" which seems to be a bonus supplement, perhaps published halfway between annual catalogues?  That is a guess.  This one still says " No. 2" but also 1903.
1902 catalogue




Factory Negatives

The following are silvered negative photographs from the Jost factory, as listed on proantic (archive).  I'm posting the inverted versions.








In the No. 22 catalogue, we see this notation:
Transcription:
Ce signe souligné de la date indique que le jeu correspon- dant est une création de la maison.
Le même signe sans date indique que le jeu a été radicale- ment transformé ou perfectionné par la maison.
Machine translation:
This underlined date sign indicates that the corresponding game is a creation of the house.
The same sign without date indicates that the game has been radically transformed or perfected by the house.

This lets us separate Jost machines in to 3 categories:
  1. Games that Jost created
  2. Games that Jost didn't create but improved upon / redesigned
  3. Other games that Jost made

Games that Jost created

Here I will highlight the games that Jost come with the symbol and the year, indicating that these games were developed in-house.  This list is sorted by creation date.


1886 Mascotte Universelle


1887 Mat De Cocagne


1888 Grandes Mascottes De Luxe


1886 La Mascotte


1888 Boules Pour Loteries


1892 La Perisienne


1895 Billard Nicolas


1895 Le Stroklet


1898 Le Klondyke


1898 Petits Coureurs


1898 Serpentin
1898 Boule Standart


1900 Le Velo-Sphere
patented S.D.G.D. ("SDGD" is omitted in Cat No. 26)


1901 Table A Volets "L'Ideale"


1904 Petite Mascotte


1904 Grands Jeux De La Boule


The Jost creation here seems to be the new model with "continuous lubrication and pressure-adjust brakes", made for heavy casino use.
1905 Grands Jeux de Petis Chevaux: Modele Nouveau

1905 La Petite Boule


1905 La Mascotte


1910 Coureur Circulaire


1910 Classeur "Optime"


1910 L'Assiette Au Beurre


1910 Coffre A Jeux Multiples



1912 Press-Cartes


1913 Pupitre A Musique


1912 La Chasse Aux Lapins


1922 La Torpille


1923 Table-Jacquet


1923 Les Chapchis

1923 Les Chapchis - page 2


Games that Jost improved upon

Games that Jost improved upon, from catalogue No. 22:
Roulettes De Famille

Roulettes Genre E.X.P.

Tir Electrique Dit Roulette Electrique

Jeux Du Chemin De Fer

Billard Bagatelle Francais

Le Steeple

Jeu Du Rodet

Grandes Mascottes

Tournant Triomphe

Le Serpentin



Games that Jost improved upon, entries from catalogue No. 26 that did not appear in catalogue No. 22:

Roulettes De Grande Precision


Roulettes De Grande Precision (continued)


Petite Boule De Famille


Grands Jeux De Petis Chevaux

Jacquet-Sport




Game Photographs

To finish, here are some images I've gathered of Jost-made products.

Wellouej has a writeup on Jost. (archive)  They include photos of a number of Jost games in their collection:
Le Bagolo

Le Stroklet

Le Bombic

be sure to check out their marvelous website! Be sure to check out their marvelous website!


Some gambling implements, photos from Patrick Carrière.

Palettes de Baccara


JAL inscription


Dealer's card shoe:








Grands Jeux De La Boule

Listed as premiering in 1904, a number of copies of Grands Jeux De La Boule have come up for auction.


listed as 139x139cm

2nd one:









The third one:
this was listed as 190.5cm x 190.5cm



Also,
La Mascotte - first made 1886 - overhead view of the roulette wheel

Mat De Cocagne:





1895 Manuel du Clement
sold at the toy store Au Paradis Des Enfants




Patents


FR5054E

FR5054E

This appears to be a patent for Le Dedale
Le Dedale ou La Course De Billes

There is a more generic-seeming version of this patent, that focuses on a single obstacle board. 
FR340786A


FR340786A

The next patent was filed in the UK for Le Stroklet, which the Jost catalogue entry above says was first made in 1895.
GB190001991A

GB190001991A

UK patent for Le Bombic:
GB190023511A




GB190023511A









FR328015A

FR328015A

This patent appears to be the brakes described for the fancier version of 1905's Grands Jeux de Petis Chevaux: Modele Nouveau.

This next patent also appears related to the same game, and involves continual rotational motion of multiple figures at different speeds.

FR332376A

FR332376A

FR332376A

And another patent related to these circular horse racing games:



FR337196A

FR337196A

FR337196A

FR337196A


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