Sculptures and Statue Jokers

This section has joker playing cards which have a picture of a statue, sculpture, or other physical artifact on them.   I've just organized this section, trying to balance each page. 

Balance each page?  Yes, part of the aesthetics for me is to organize each page around a theme. Ideally, the themes are harmonious or coherent or at least, not an unholy mix. I also try to give the sequence of pages some logic.  Allow me to demonstrate...  

Ladies first? Or as they often say in a crisis when it's time to evacuate: Women and children first.  So, first a page of women. ♀♀♀♀

 

Of course, in the third row center, there is a man. But his joker is the match for the one in the top row in the middle so, as a pair, they belong on the same page. This is one of the  rules about organizing: don't split up a pair.

The next page is  the children. Imagine how pleased I am that I have nine of them! (And that I had about nine female statue sculptures).   😀 😀 😀 😀

 

 

Now, for the adult men sculptures. There are a lot of them. This page is not organized so much by epoch or type of sculpture, it's organized around full bodied men with a certain conquering attitude. It ranges widely from the Roman Emperors, Englishman such as Cromwell, and to the Inca Chiefs. But they all seem to me to have a common swagger.

This next page is all ancient Greek. Wrestling or otherwise very physical and athletic. Less specific people and more about characteristics.

 This next page is mostly primitive or folk art.

Walk like an Egyptian? Let's go way back to Ancient Egypt for two pages.

 

 

Shiny stuff, like artifacts, from the ancients. 

These men are full bodied, mostly medievil, mostly crusading, musically playing, or medically flying. And I can only find 8 so far that fit here.

These are ancient bulls and a hunter too. The themes are bovines, heads, and circles. 

Fortunately, the people were fertile and attracted to each other often enough in ways to keep the species going. We use to deify sex but today, we seem too puritan to show such public appreciation. There is also an old man in a chair watching. Good for him.

These folk figures seem to belong together despite their difference of geography and era.

This next set is an admission that finding order in sets of nine among diverse sculptures, statues, and artifacts... not always possible. At least not by me. At least not yet, but I'm still trying.

This last page of jokers continues the previous page's theme of miscellaneous. The top three are a set, the middle one has a statue so it's in the statue section. I am thinking of moving it to the American geography section where all three would fit.  The bottom left is a plaque which for me is a memorial like a sculpture. It's physical.  The associated joker in the pair is in the bottom right.

This beautiful and famous mermaid statue is in the mermaid joker section, not in the statues but I did want to mention it here. (There are also in the animals section, dog subsection, wolves/coyotes subsubsection, a pair of jokers with the statues of Romulus and Remus. I'll get pictures of them eventually. The rules for where jokers go when they could fit in different sections are outlined in the taxonomy article).

This article was about jokers with pictures of statues, they are part of the artsy section.  The related sections to perhaps visit next: 

1. Beautiful art jokers, classic, digital, and  flowers, fruit, mermaids
2. Card-themed Jokers (YES, this is intentional) 
3. Mystical, deathly, and devils. Pirates too.
4. Masks
5. Statues - This is the article you just reading here!

The Cary Collection of Playing Cards and Ephemera

In 1976, I went to Yale College and I found it a very validating experience. Let me be specific. When I arrived at Yale, the major library, Sterling Library, had a display of playing cards and related ephemera. The fact that Yale organized and displayed a major playing card exhibition for my arrival greatly contributed to my sense - as a joker playing card collector - of belonging there.

This article is incomplete. But it has been unfinished for half a year now so I'm publishing it hoping somebody will notice this incomplete article and help me complete it.... I'm also in need of some clarifications and fact checking. 

What is the Cary Collection of Playing Cards?  Melbert B. Cary, Jr. was a life long collector of playing cards: he amassed a world leading collection of cards and related materials from around the world that go back to antiquity.  Following his death,  his wife Mary Flagler Cary gave the collection to the Beineke Library at Yale. The Beineke Library  Cary collection  goes beyond cards and includes significant ephemera, a word that I do not fully understand. 

Also, it's not clear to me what the relationship is between the epiphenous Cary Collection of Playing Cards and the Cary Collection business.  Anyone?

I bought at a 52 Plus Joker auction a copy of the Index to the Cary Collection.  But it maybe should be updated since the Cary collection has been update by a major acquisition. 

In 2017, the Cary Collection using funds from the Mary Flagler Cary Fund  acquired the playing card collection of Tom and Judy Dawson.  Tom and Judy Dawson are royalty in the playing card world due to their creation of the modern version of the Hochman Encyclopedia. It bothers me that Wikipedia does not have an article about Tom and Judy Dawson.

 Tom and Judy Dawson

Tom and Judy Dawson are collectors of antiques and playing card ephemera. They have been collecting for over 40 years. Early on, the Dawsons were influenced by Gene Hochman, an avid collector and playing card enthusiast. Hochman was the author of the original Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards, which was re-written by the Dawsons in 2000. Before his retirement as a Certified Public Accountant, Tom was a senior partner at the accounting organization Deloitte. Judy pursues her interests in the areas of antique collecting, gardening, and home design, in addition to having raised their six children. In addition to caring for their collection, Tom and Judy serve as officers of 52 Plus Joker, a club for those interested in antique American and International playing cards. Judy also edits the club's quarterly publication, Clear the Decks.

The Cary Collection Index on my Bookshelf

Again, please help complete this article.
Sources

 An Introduction to Playing Cards and Collecting by Veteran Collectors Tom and Judy Dawson  Posted by EndersGame Reviewer on October 06, 2020  

Tom and Judy Dawson Collection of Playing Card Ephemera. Yale University

Joker collecting resources, websites, books, groups, and museums that I find useful.