Playing Card Joker Collecting. I started in high school (mid 1970s!) but I did take a few decade-long breaks. Welcome. Start with my organizational system . Truly: Amused by the jokers I am.
I just purchased a fantastic Alice deck created byProspero Art(who have lots of wonderful decks. I've bought 3 so far and will soon be going back for a dozen). Here’s the deck, more on them later (10-2020):
Here's the back from Prospero Art. Very nice.
Quick update, 10/2019. I just bought an Alice in Wonderland Playing Card Deck entitled "We're all Mad Here" created by ASVP. It’s lovely. Marked 1865 on the cover (the date the book was published), the deck might be using much of the original book’s artwork.
First, the back and a joker:
Then two examples of the artwork on the royal cards and aces.
Other Alice in Wonderland jokers: Here’s a Mad Hatter joker, front and back.
Mad Hatter Joker
The Back
Here's a Steampunk Adventure Alice in Wonderland deck designed by Juan Solorzano. There are three jokers: the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, and Alice.
The Cheshire Cat Joker
White Rabbit Joker
Alice: The Joker
Here is the back of the Steampunk Alice in Wonderland deck. Pretty good but it didn't blow me away.
On the other hand, I loved the Jack, Queen, and King of Diamonds. Especially the queen. The detail on the queen that is so cool is the tiny mouse that she's holding. Generally, the details on the royal cards are great. The diamonds are cool since this is an integrated deck which is really rare.
Here's an inventory of some Alice Playing Cards
The next picture is not of a playing card. This morning, I opened my Alice in Wonderland deck partially because last night for Halloween, we dressed up as Alice and Mad Hatter. Wifey was Alice, I was the Hatter. We won first prize for costumes at a neighborhood party. I'll probably be scraping greasepaint off my face for a week but it was worth it in that Wifey liked how she looked as Alice (actually, when she wasn't next to me, people thought she was Dorothy from Oz).
Alice and the Mad Hatter
Here’s the Alice jokers 9/2020:
The top left and right one here are from Penguin Magic (I think).
I've recently joined some Facebook groups where the great collectors and connoisseurs of playing cards discuss their interest. Oddly, Walgreens has been mentioned a number of times as stocking at low prices ($4 to $6 each) a number of collectable level decks of playing cards. So while I was running errands this morning, I stopped and bought 6 decks.
Walgreen's Collectable Decks
The first one that I opened was the Emotion deck. It features two jesters with just the headshot (so they go in the headshot portion of the collection). Here they are, classic jesters with just a little more nuanced emotion that one might find on a typical jester.
As part of my education about card collecting, I'm now thinking that I should keep more info on the origin of each joker. I'm not entirely sure how to do this but I'll start by using blog for record keeping. The Emotion deck box and back are pictured below. The front of the cards are all black and face cards and aces are particularly beautifully decorated.
The second box that i opened was the Aurora deck. The two topsy turvy or mirror image jokers are below followed by the box and a picture of the back. The face cards use the classic designs but with a new color scheme and the same double frame that is on the jokers.
The travel section has broken into several joker subsections, bon voyage!
This article shows the vehicles subsection of the travel section.
Let's start with some vintage modes of transportation, say a steam ship joker!
Ship Joker
While not exactly a common mode of transport, this rocket man is going someplace.
Rocket Man Joker
The next is another classic sailing ship. As soon as I have some time, I'll figure out the difference between one, two, and tree mast ships and how they are rigged so I can use a more precise term than a sailing ship. Perhaps something like a clipper or schooner. Below this joker, I've provided an image of the back of the joker.
Sailing Ship Joker
I don't usually show the back of jokers but I thought this one was eye catching. It's the back of the sailing ship joker just above. The guy is dark skinned and in Turkish exotic clothes. She seems to be dressed as sort of post war 20s flapper in a long gown with a big peacock feather.
New York Consolidate Card Company Joker
Now some train jokers...
Train Jokers
This looks like a military ship.
Airplane Joker
The next 9 jokers are pictured as a group. They feature globes or balloons or are otherwise spherical. The organization of jokers by category and subcategory is important to me. But most important of all is the creation of aesthetically harmonious pages which also fit into these categories. This one, for instance, is built around the ballooning travel theme and includes a number of thematically related spherical objects such as a globe personified as an airplane. Who makes this stuff up? There's also the earth seen from the sky and an abstract pattern.
Balloon and Globe Jokers
Here's a set of 9 travel jokers either with maps or scenery.
Map Jokers
The travel subsections is now organized in subsections! Bon voyage!
