Map Jokers

 Here's an update of my map jokers. Let's start with Egypt, one of the oldest civilizations on Earth. Pyramids, sphinx, and all that...

Here's a joker with maps of some shipping routes between South America, West Africa, and New Orleans or NOLA as it is sometimes known.

/A joker with a map of Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australian just waiting to be colored in. (Yes, it' by Crayola, the crayon people).

The Joker below is from Baraja AMERICA by Teodoro N. Miciano, and published by Heraclio Fournier, 1960. The posting of it by Adam West-Watson on the Facebook Joker Collectors Page was what inspired me to update this page. Thanks.

Here are the ensemble shots of jokers.  You might notice that in the top row middle, there is a non-map joker. It is sort of a heraldry joker and for the moment, I have heraldry mixed in with the maps. But I also have some flags and other heraldry jokers mixed in with European travel so I still have some sorting and organizational work to do (no rest for the weary).

Notice more heraldry above?

These map jokers are a subsection of my travel jokers which is organized like this:

1. Vehicles
1. Motor Vehicles: Sea,  Flying (translations too), Trains, Cars & Motorcycles 
   
2. Bicycle Jokers, Skater Jokers, Unicycle Jokers  
   
   
2. American places and Americana,  Congress Jokers 
1. American Scenery Jokers
2.  American people
3. Cowboys
4. Native Americans
5. People of Color
3. Non US Places
4. Maps
5. Old Europeans with names, Old European stereotypes
6. Chinese Jokers - Acquired Collection, Collected

Air Cushion Cards by USPCC

Here's a typical Bicycle joker. 

Below, the close up photo below highlights the texture of the cards.   See the little dimples in the finish? That is what the US Playing Card Company calls  Air Cushion which is what makes the cards slide against each other so smoothly. 

The cards don't fly, they aren't Air Jordans. They are Air Cushion.

I learned from a Facebook post on 3/19/2025 by Jason McKinstry of Paper Empires fame (and I quote):

The United States Playing Card Company filed a Trademark application for Air-Cushion finish on February 19, 1907, and was approved on May 19th. The new trademark appeared in the 1907 annual publication of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. From 1907 until after 1910, the USPC would advertise Air-Cushion as a "new" finish as it was tested across many brands. Of course, none would become more famous than Bicycle No. 808, where the brand the finish became almost synonymous. 

Want to know a lot more about the modern finishes on decks? Check out this article on card finishes by Legend Playing Cards 

The close up picture above was initially taken to highlight a subtle difference between the previous Bicycle Joker Playing card. There are three differences between the two cards pictured above.

One. The top one has a registered trademark, an R in a circle. ®  The bottom one has a registered copyright on it. A C in a circle. © What's the difference? Well, a copyright has to do with ownership of the intellectual property. It is meant to protect property rights.  A trademark has to do with not confusing the public. It has to do with keeping the consumers from being misled.  Isn't intellectual property law interesting?

Two, the top one has 808 on the milestone. That's the Bicycle product line.  The 88 on the bottom one means the corner indices on the cards are much larger. Good for the alte kakers (old people).

Three, the graphics are also different. Look at the exact lines on the milestone for instance.

From here, you can choose what you want to learn more about:

Bicycle Jokers
Unicycle Jokers
The US Playing Card Company

More history perhaps?

To see my other articles about American historical jokers.  Here are some early American card-makers.

Dougherty  
NYCC jokers
USPC Jokers including Bicycle, Congress  
National Card Company,
Kalamazoo, and Perfection too
Also: The History of the Joker, the Ace of Spades, and the Stamp Act 

 

Joker: The Word Joker in the Middle

 Breaking news in the world of joker taxonomy. Faced with a category of jokers - jokers with just graphic designs on them and no character - that was ginormous, a new subsection has been created: jokers which feature in the middle the word "JOKER".  Here they are:

Look at this beautiful old design and note how the word JOKER is front and center.

 

Here's the ensemble. First two pages of classic vintage type jokers.

Ever heard of Andrew Dougherty and know how he helped create the world of jokers and the American card industry?

The related categories of jokers to look at:

1. Casinos 
2. Cigarettes, Drink,  Desserts and Candy 
   
3. Coca Cola Jokers    
   
4. Cars 
   
5. Public Interest Messages, space science and technology
   
6. Logo type jokers, Geometric Designs Jokers featuring "Joker" 
   
7. Ads         Text based jokers 
   
8. Jokers promoting playing cards , Ads for brands of playing cards