In 1991, the US Playing Card Museum published a poster featuring 72 jokers.
In December of 2020, I decided to collect the 72 jokers on this poster. I now have 65 of the 72. These last seven are increasingly difficult to find (or afford). As far as I know (and please tell me if you know better), I have more of these than any other collector in the world.
Missing Cards. If you have any of the ones that I'm missing, even as part of a whole deck, I'm highly motivated. to buy or trade for them. Please contact me. john at edelson dot info. Here's the seven that I am totally missing and there are a few where I have a version but not exactly the one on the poster (ie 6H).
2C - X-Ray Playing Cards Co. NY c 1940
3D Perfecto Americana. Atlas Playing Card Co. NY. c 1925
3E Chess deck. Unknown. C 1900
5G Steamboat (marked Deck). Novelty Playing Card Co, Chicago 1935
7E Marked Cards. Brooklyn Playing Card Co. NY. 1896
8E Piatnik, Vienna, Austria c 1949
8I Clown Cigarettes. USPC 1925
Here's the poster and my status- or ambitions - in collecting them, row by row. These cards are as new as 1988 (Adobe deck) or as old as 1895 (Hartford Playing Card Co). While most are American, there are jokers from Argentina, England, France, Austria, and The Netherlands. Some are classic joker designs, others are just a little... cheesy (IMHO). While a large number are from the USPC, there are also jokers from other major and minor card publishers. In the case of the Adobe deck, both jokers appear in the poster. Who picked these jokers and why?
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| The USPCC Joker Poster. 1991 |
First row. I have them all. One hundred percent.
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| Row 1 from the Poster |
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| Jokers from my Collection |
What are they (per poster key)? - Where are they in my Collection?
1A Universal Playing Card Company. London c. 1940 - Jester / entertaining / with cards
1B Fastmail. Standard Playing Card Co. Chicago c 1905 - Americana / folk
1C Northbrook Playing Cards Co. c 1965 - Topsy / jesters
1D Spanish American War, Army Edition. Samuel Hart (NYCC) 1898 - Jesters / standing
1E Virginia Slims. USPC for Philip Morris, 1984 - Busts / jester heads (with no hands)
1F Mogul Clubs #15. A Dougherty, NY - Clown
1G Special Edition. USPC c 1950 - Clown
1I Waldorf #240. A Dougherty, NY c 1909 - Busts / With Hands / With Cards
Row 2. I'm missing X-Ray.
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| Poster Row 2 |
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| Jokers from my Collection Row 2 |
2D Special edition, USPC 1935 - Topsy / jesters / with wands
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| Jokers from my Collection - Two More to Get! |
3C USPC for EW McCarroll Co. Pittsburgh c 1925 - Clowns
3E Chess deck. Unknown. C 1900 - ??? NO
3G A Dougherty, c1905. AD37. Hochman P77 - Topsy / jesters and clowns
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| Jokers from my Collection - Row 4 - Complete! (out of order) |
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| Poster Row 5 |
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| Jokers from my Collection - Row 5 - One Missing |
5A Remembrance. Brown and Bigelow, St Paul, MN c 1970 -
5D Godey Ladies. USPC for NASCO. c 1935
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| Poster Row 6 |
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| Jokers from my Collection - Row 6 |
6D Bier Smoking Tobacco. USPC 1934 - Sitting
6E ARRCO Playing Card Co, Chicago, c 1963 - Busts / jester heads with no hands
6G Coca-Cola. USPC. 1945 - Advertising / Coke
6I Adobe Deck. Adobe Systems Inc, Mountain View, VA 1988 - Display cabinet with deck
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| Poster Row 7 |
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| Jokers from my Collection - Row 7 |
7E Marked Cards. Brooklyn Playing Card Co. NY. 1896 - NEED IT
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| Joker Poster Row 8 |
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| Joker Collection Row 8 |
8A Criterion Playing Card C o for John High Co, 1932 -
All Together Now.... Oops, too hard
I started to try to lay out all the rows of all the jokers for one big group picture. Four rows is all I got done before I ran out of time, patience, and space. Still, I'll share it. It's a real test - which I largely fail - of my organizational ability to fetch (and then return) all these jokers into their spots in the joker collection. I did it above row by row and that exhausted me.
These are the jokers from the bottom four rows of the poster.
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| USPC Joker Poster - Bottom Four Rows Recreated |
The Matching Congress 606 Jokers, 1898-1904
Old Decks that I've bought
Displays of Old Decks
Americana Themed Jokers
American Folklore Mysteries from 1800s on Jokers
The Playing Card Museum Joker Poster - Can they all be found?
The 52 Plus Joker 2023 Conference
Meeting Joop, Fred, Jelle, and Ronald in 2023 and Dan in 2020
John, there was a fourth archivist at the museum whose name escapes me but the wording on your site is ok. I think there was a third poster too, I have a photo of it somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI knew Van and his wife Margie very well. I corresponded and traded with him for years. They let us stay in their home for the 91 conventions. Van, was a Scottie Dog man (they had 7 real ones) but he knew my only love was for the joker.
Van made great efforts to get me to go to the 91convention. Kept joking about there being a real surprise waiting especially for me. If you knew Van, he was a larger-than-life character and very influential at the museum. I can only repeat what he said when he presented me with the poster, ‘it was made with me in mind’. You can take that either way. To this very day, I’ve come away with exactly that impression.
When my partner ‘Dor’ (Doreen) died in 1994, I lost all interest in jokers until 2021. By this time the collection had suffered water damage and neglect and I lost roughly 6,500 jokers.
Unfortunately, Van died last year, after a fall and Margie is now in a home.