Worlds Fairs and Exposition Jokers

 There are a number of jokers commemorating various Worlds Fairs or Expositions.  First, a little background on Worlds Fairs:  In 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations", the World Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, the United Kingdom. The Great Exhibition, as it is often called, was an idea of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, and is usually considered to be the first international exhibition of manufactured products...The world expositions of 1851 London, 1853 New York, 1862 London, 1876 Philadelphia, Paris 1878, 1888 Barcelona, 1889 Paris, 1891 Prague, 1893 Chicago, 1897 Brussels, 1900 Paris, 1904 St. Louis, 1915 San Francisco, and 1933–34 Chicago were notable in this respect (source: Wikipedia). 

Worlds Fairs were an important venue for education. Learning about the world and the state of the art in many areas became possible by touring the World  Fairs. These  were held over many months where products and information and technology and animals from around the world were brought together so people could marvel and learn. 

The first joker that I have from a worlds fair is from 1878.

The Paris Exposition of 1878 was a big one in terms of the world seeing American industry and technology for the first time. Among American successes was the printing technology for playing cards. The New York Playing Card company won a Gold Medal which they marketed the heck out of. Here's the joker.

Pam American Buffalo Exposition - 1901. It seems a card company was set up, The Pan American  Exposition Playing Card Co at 458 Washington Street, Buffalo, NY. I bought this gold edged deck on Ebay for $109 in maybe 2021. The back is particularly lovel. Hoffman P250, SX18. "The backs feature a relif map of North and South America joining hands. The faces have a different oval phot scene of the exposition on each card".

 

And here's the back of the Pan-American Exposition Playing Cards of 1901.

This joker is from the 1904 St Louis World's Fair.

1904 World Fair Joker

Here's its back:

1893 World's Fair in Chicago, a modern reproduction deck by Elusionist.

Want to see article about 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 

Bee Jokers

 This article, refreshed Jan 24, 2024, has jokers with bees on them. It is a subsection of "The Birds and the Bees" which is part of the overall flyers section of jokers.  Other sections are the birds, the butterflies, and dragons.  The flying horses do arguably belong here but they were given a choice and they opted to bunk in the fantasy horse section with the centaurs, unicorns, and flying horses (Pegassus!). 

Let's start with the most classic bee joker in the Centennial Edition version from 1992. Here it is, a historic and famous joker which features Bee Boy.

Here, looking back in history, are three versions of the Bee Boy joker by three different publishers. The oldest one is on the far left. He is a NYCC60 Bee #92 c1895.  This card would probably have been printed sometime between its introduction in 1895 and before the acquisition of NYCC by USPC in 1930.  The joker on the far right would be after USPC merged NYCC and Dougherty into a single USPC division called Consolidated-Dougherty.  At some point, and I'd appreciate someone telling me when, they were fully merged in to USPC and the name listed became USPCC like the middle joker below.  

This deck is copyright 2018, Penguin Magic. Designed by Randy Butterfield and manufactured by USPCC, now listed as in Erlanger KY.

This joker is from a modern USPC deck with the back and the name of the deck on the box displayed a little below. The deck is Karnival Hornets. It's made and published by USPC

Here's two more bee-like jokers:

Both these decks are manufactured by USPC.  Here's more information about them.

And here's some copyright information on the two decks mentioned above.

Here is the complete collection of jokers in the bee section.  There's 38.

Plus these two that are on a page of their own. 

What should you look at next? I'd suggest staying in the animal kingdom with these choices:

1. Animal Jokers - Ensemble Animal combinations (cats AND dogs)
   



Animals: Flyers - Bee Boy

1. Cats  or  Dogs . Now there's a big cat subsection! 
2. Flyers: Bees, Birds, Owls, Butterflies  & Dragons 
3. Horses , zebras, donkeys, giraffes ...
1. Fantasy horses: centaurs, unicorns, pegasus
   
4. Monkeys, bears, and others with paws 
5. Animals with antlers, horns, and tusks
6. Reptiles, amphibians, sea creatures