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| John Edelson, Joker Collector |
My contribution to modern joker collection has been developing and popularizing a joker organization system, a taxonomy for collectors. I first articulated my joker organizing system in March 2017.
Think about it, how to organize hundreds or thousands of jokers so that at a glance, I know where to check to see if I have a joker? Color organization doesn't work, neither does alphabetical order or by country or publisher since that requires enormous memorizing. So I developed a thematic visual organizational system for jokers. It's a work in progress.
Here's some of my favorite jokers (a very hard selection to make!).
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| Some Favorite Jokers |
More about me: I exercise and play a lot of table tennis. I collect vintage educational technology. I retired in 2023 from 20 years plus in educational software (founder of Time4Learning and SpellingCity) and before that, from careers in consulting, tech, and video game development. I produced a video game released in 1997 called Croc, Legend of the Gobbos. It was the first free roaming 3D platformer on the Playstation and tons of fun. I vote not just my narrow self-interest but for the good of the country and world. I don't buy cheap liquor. I mostly write in short declarative sentences. I learned these last three from my mom.
I collect playing card jokers. I limit it to decks of cards and jokers and I avoid related ephemera. I stay away from clowns, scary or otherwise. I do have two items related to my cards and that is enough. One, there is this little plastic jester figurine that I bought in Paris.
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Jester - Joker Model
And there is this harlequin or jester mask, bought in Italy. It is related to the jokers with masks section of my collection.
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Some people ask me if anyone reads this blog. If you are reading this blog, you know the answer. I will admit that I was for many years the primary reader of this blog. I like writing it, I like reading it, and I like revising it. And when I don't, I don't. BTW, this website is now (2024) getting getting hundreds of views a day. Every day. Weird? I think so but it pleases me.
The picture below is a rare one in that it has me, the joker collector, pictured on the blog! Enjoy this rare glimpse of the mad genius! I was in Prague in 2016 when I met this jester. I was 58.
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| John (collector) with a Jester, Eastern Europe. Oct 2016 |
These inlaid wood boxes are from the south of Spain. The bottom one was bought in the late 1980s. I have new one, not yet pictured, bought in November 2016.
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| Joker Box - Inlaid Wood - Southern Spain |
I met a jester who was behaving himself so I took his picture. He was in Eastern Europe. Specifically, Prague in the Czech Republic. October 2016.
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| A Jester in Prague, Czech Republic |
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| Joker Inlaid Box from the South of Spain |
Oops, there I am again. I was dared to get photographed with these two famous characters who have been recently made into fluffy stuffed toys. One is the HangMouse featured on VocabularySpellingCity. The other is Pinkerton Sciefus, or Pinky or Sciefus for short, who is a featured character in Science4Us.
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| John with the HangMouse & Sciefus Clowning Around - What a Joker! |
The new HangMouse stuffed animal is to commemorate a number of improvements in the HangMan game including making it more educational by introducing hints related to the use of the word or its definition. Sciefus is here to mark the increased acceptance that time spent in K-2nd on science more than pays for itself in terms of improved literacy and math skills.
And here I am again. First, in costume as Batman with Catwomen at Dillard Elementary Literacy Night. Same night, I'm also with Harley Quinn.
And here I am again. First, in costume as Batman with Catwomen at Dillard Elementary Literacy Night. Same night, I'm also with Harley Quinn.
