Sunday, March 19, 2023

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 London1853 New York1862 London1876 PhiladelphiaParis 18781888 Barcelona1889 Paris1891 Prague1893 Chicago1897 Brussels1900 Paris1904 St. Louis1915 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.






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Thanks for your input and for reading and thinking about jokers.