Jesters and their baubles. Baubles? Yes, I believe that the name for a jester's wand on which there is a little model of the jester's head is a bauble. Here is a page from my joker collection with nine jokers. Each jokers features a jester holding a stick or wand with a small head on it. I believe that these are called baubles and are a common tool for court fools or jesters.
And I'll quote Wikipedia:
Jesters' Wands are called Baubles |
And I'll quote Wikipedia:
A bauble was originally a stick with a weight attached, used in weighing a child's toy, but especially the mock symbol of office carried by a court jester. This fool's bauble was a baton terminating in a figure of Folly with cap and bells, and sometimes having a bladder fastened to the other end. Subsequently it became a term for anything trivial or childishly folly.More recently the term means a virtually worthless decorative object.
Here are two pairs of jokers. Like so many decks, there are two jokers; one in black and white, the other in color.
The two top jokers have nice artwork of jesters holding cards and leaning on a ball. The back of the deck says Beaver Creek in Colorado. I fear that the scan of these jokers is a little fuzzy.
The lower two have two jesters decorated with the four suits (clubs, hearts, diamonds, and spades) holding their baubles.
The item carried by a jester is a "marotte". Marotte is the French term for a baubles carried by a fool or foolish person.
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