Juggling Jokers

Jan 15, 2019. Quick update about two gorgeous juggling jokers that arrived today.  Of course, this whole section needs an overhaul but this update will do for now.

juggling jokers from Eastern Europe

Here's a jester juggling which is oddly beautiful. It's odd in that  it is from a deck by Pringles. YES, the potato chip people! Not a brand that made me think of aesthetics and art. But I'm wrong.  Notice the sensual curves of the chips and the playful touches on the designs of the jesters and royal cards! Pringles surprised me with these sensational playing card designs.

Pringles Cards: A Beautiful Jester Joker

 Here's some of the Pringle royal cards. Anyone know the story of how and where Pringles made these?

Ukrainian Jokers. Juggling!

Here's the royal cards from this deck (which oddly, lacks cards two through five). I assume the T is an ace, right?

Here's the back and one of the lowest cards in the deck:

I have over 75 different juggling jokers. (circa Sept 2017)
Below is a small sampling of them.  I expect soon to have the time to properly photography my jokers with a juggling them and in the meantime, here's a good sample of them.    I gushed about a joker since it evoked the classical jester theme of juggling.

 Then I went on a quest to find my jokers with a juggling theme. There turn out to be sixty seven different juggling jokers in the collection at this time.   Here's they are:

Juggling Joker

The joker above is from  the Gold Rabbit deck,  Shanghai Playing Cards Factory, Shanghai, China. Probably 1980's. TVB.

Now if you are paying attention, you'll realize that categorizing jokers properly is harder than juggling four pins while balancing on a board on a ball.  For instance, should this next joker be categorized as a juggling joker (since he's juggling cards and balancing on a ball) or in the jokers featuring playing cards section? Answer: juggling card jokers get categorized as jugglers, not as card-themed jokers.  Management decision!

Here's the photos of the entire juggling section: Mid January, 2019! Almost 13 full pages of juggling jokers!

The Scatterman jokers are no longer in the juggling section: Scatterman now has his own section in the collection. Here's a note from the Facebook Joker Playing Card discussion of May 17, 2018, Joop Muller explained:

The black and white joker was made by Mesmaekers from Turnhout in the 1930's. It was chosen as the standard Carta Mundi joker after the merging of the playing card divisions of Van Genechten, Biermans and Brepols. Van Genechten had already taken over Mesmaekers and had in this way acquired the rights of this joker too.

And if you don't mind, I thought I'd include a picture of yours truly (an expression that means me) doing some juggling. It was original posted on my sports blog.




For those of you who want to know what happened at the end of the video.... it turns out that I had forgotten to chew so I started to choke.  Once I realized what was happening, I remembered that I use to have this same problem back in the early 1970s when I use to perform this trick.  Here I am, half a century later, and I'm still forgetting to chew and swallow.  Totally cracked me up! Practically make me choke to death too. And here is a quick look via video of my juggling jokers as of 9/2/2017: 

Want to see more jokers? First, leave a comment on this blog: I need the encouragement. Two, pick your interest from this exciting list:

• Clown Jokers
• Sitting jester section (like the one below)
• Card themed joker section
• Cat and Dog Jokers.

Owl Man Joker Juggling and Sitting

Ebay Joker Buying - Auctions Daily

I've recently received a bonus at work so now that I'm flush, I'm focusing on building my joker collection.  I tend to win about half of the auctions that I bid on. I'm still getting a feel for the market. Many of the jokers are sold in groups of 9 and I already will have 7 or 8 of them. So on these, I tend to get outbid since they can go into the $20s for people who are acquiring a large number of new ones. For  me, who is just getting 1 or 2 new ones, it's too pricey.

I tend to win the singles when I not only don't have them but also really like them. Here's some updates from today on playing card joker buying...

For instance, this next one is an ongoing auction at this point. I really want this one since I've a thing for good devil figures but I'm bidding way past my comfort level for an individual playing card.

Devilish Joker - Auction Still Live

I just won this antique looking joker. I like it because I know that it's a US Playing Card joker by the symbol in the corner. And I like the romance of the scantily clad beauty hanging in sight but out of reach on the crescent moon.  I'm pleased to have bought this one. I think I paid $7.00 for it.

lady on the moon - antiquish joker

To be frank, I sort of wish I hadn't bought this one. I only bid $4 and I won it. It just doesn't do anything for me. I know I'm supposed to love all my children but this is one that doesn't seem to be true to the traditions and spirit of playing card jokers.  Oh well, that's why I have big albums, some have to go in the back.

baby girl in garden joker

 This spooky figure is very appealing and it was also under $7.  The picture from Ebay of this card is not so clear so I can't wait to get the original. I think it's a skeleton face but I'm not so sure.

Spooky Figure Joker

This next one is one of my favorites of the week. Bought it for a cool $4.00. It has a juggling leprechaun.  As we all know, juggling is both a favorite theme (and skill) of mine and a traditional joker theme.  And I like mystical creatures like leprechauns and their distant cousins, gnomes. Of course, I'm not sure that I've ever seen a gnome joker. As I write this, I've started searching for the page on my blog where I highlight juggling jokers and I find, to my surprise, that I've never really put together a section themed by juggling. There are juggling jokers but they are scattered throughout organized along other themes. I did find 6 juggling jokers on one page in an album so I've reproduced that below. Along with a pair of naughty gnomes whose image j'ai volé...

Joker: Juggling Leprechaun

Here's a sampling of a traditional joker theme: juggling. Here they're mostly jokers juggling balls. More often, they are juggling (or magically suspending) large numbers of cards in impossible formations or juggling the four card suits in different ways...

Jokers: Six Juggling from the Collection

Are gnomes verily related to leprechauns? And what of their mysterious mistress?

Gnomes - Hoping to Party
Des gnômes, prêtes pour un soirée