Source Art of Classic Mythology Congress 606 Matching Decks

 I have found (with some help!) the source art for the three classical mythology Congress 606 decks with matching jokers: Moon Fairy, Diana, and Berenice. The decks all date from around 1900. Here is a comparison of the original art and the backs of the decks. 

The Moon Fairy deck (and hence the 52PlusJoker logo) is based on an 1891 painting by the German Herman Kaulbach.

Moon Fairy by Herman Kaulbach, 1891

Diana is based on a painting by a Frenchman, Louis Just Maurice Perrey from 1891.

Diana by Louis Maurice Perrey, 1891

The Berenice deck is based on an 1886 painting by the Spaniard Luis Ricard Falero.

Berenice by Luis Ricardo Falero, 1886

I find this artwork striking for a few reasons. 

One, USPC seems to have really been on top of the contemporary classic mythology art scene since they based their decks on artwork that had been painted in the 15 years prior to the card publication.  Someone seems to really have known where to find the finest contemporary classical mythological artwork.

A second thought that I have is about the full frontal nudity of the Berenice deck. I think it's a pretty racy compared to what I thought would be made for the upper crust of American society in the Gilded / Victorian Age.  But, they did make and publish it and as far as I know, there was no outcry or scandal. How sophisticated!

A question in my mind which I had hoped some researchers could shed some light on is: Was the use of this artwork done under a licensing arrangement or was it somehow free of copyright constraints and used under some fair use arrangement.  Anyone?

Here's some background. I'm focusing here on Congress 606 decks with Matching Jokers. In this context, a matching joker (or named joker) means that the joker image is a black and white version of the back design.  Here's the example of Diana with the back of the deck and the joker.

Decks for the Tip Top Upper Crust.  Around 1900, a standard deck bought while travelling or in a general store might cost $0.02. It might be called a Steamboat deck which seems to be not so much a brand as reference to a low end common deck. The USPC (and others) published a number of nicer decks in brands such as Bicycle brand, Sportsmen, and Army Navy. These were better made decks and could cost ~$0.05.  But the wealthy people who played cards at their clubs or invited people to the mansions would buy fancier decks with gold gilded edges and which came in nice two piece colored leather cases. These decks had gorgeous artwork on the back The best known of these brands were the Congress 606 decks.

Here's a view of the gold edge of my Berenice deck.  I wish I was a better photographer so that you could see how the gold edge catches and reflects the light.

Take a look at this total package of a two piece leather case, the gold edge, the matching joker and backs, and mostly the exquisite state-of-the-art painting.

Focusing just on the cards, notice the quality of the artwork on the ace of spades and again, of the reproduction of the artwork of Louis Maurice Perrey.

The Fairy of the Moon artwork by Herman Kaulbach was reproduced in several colors. Here's two:

The sitting on the moon image has been picked up a number of times and has become a genre of jokers: sitting on the moon. And very importantly, it is the logo of the 52 Plus Joker club. Do you about the club? If not, you should if only because it's only $25/year to join including magazines etc and it's just tons of fun.

Here's three variations on the Diana image.

While the standard Congress 606 leather case had printed information, the Berenice case was an exception. Nobody knows why and it stands practically but not entirely alone. Matt Schacht reports that USPCC produced  in 1909 a deck called Waturus, a private steam yacht,  with a similar design.

The regular Congress deck cases including some Congress branding, a call out to the Air Cushion finish, some copyright information, sometimes the date, and the USPCC name along with their city. The printing was embossed and gold.

Want to learn more?

Congress Guy's website is an amazing authoritative source on Congress 606 decks. 
Matt Schacht's list with images of all of the Congress Matching Jokers

My article about the Congress 606 Matching Jokers
My article on the creation of the joker: A New World Invention

For lighter reading, check out the Jokers featuring the Birds and the Bees! 🐦& 🐝!

All of the photos here are of items in my collection.

My Number of Jokers

 

VocabularySpellingCity Joker

Does anyone really care about personal metrics?  I don't think anybody really cares about your weight, bank balance, IQ, test scores, or your GPA.  Or your speed on the 100 yard dash. Or how many pushups you can do.   

With that said, I'd like to share one of my numbers: 11,634 (on May 6th, 2025).  That's my number of how many different jokers I have, I just counted. It's a ton of work to count the entire collection. And boring too.

Notice that the collection grew a lot in the last eight year. Nothing like lots of spare time, some visits to different collectors, a few online 52Plus auctions, two 52Plus Conferences, easy access to eEbay, lots of travel, and ... woops, lots of new jokers.

Background: I had 7,346 different jokers as of 2/2021: 5392 on 12/2019: 3,231 on 9/18: and only 2,039 on 6/2017. 

 Of course, my collections keeps growing so the number is a moving target.  A few weeks before, my number was smaller. In a few weeks, it could be larger.

Sometimes, to my chagrin, I discover duplicate jokers which means that I've counted one joker twice so then, when I redo the numbers,  it goes down 😥.

To be clear. I have many many more jokers than that because I have many duplicate jokers.  I only considerthe joker side: I don't generally care about the backside of the joker.  

A more complicated question is what constitutes a joker different than another. The question is subtle when the difference is just the printing, slight differences in card size, tiny control numbers on the cards, and so on. I tend not to count slight differences in the printing or size:  I don’t want looking at my jokers to appear like dozens of nearly identical cards with the differences feeling like an eye tests. If I can't see the difference between the two cards without a magnifying glass, I won't count it as different. 

I generally don't consider different printing control numbers to count as differences with the exception of the Western Publishing Topsy jokers  since the fine print has the back name for each joker and it’s in pretty large type.

I had planned to stop general collecting at ten thousand. But I'm still enjoying it so I'll continue but I'm showing some restraint.

It amused me that I shot through my target number without even noticing. But it is time for me to start specializing and to stem my general purpose joker buying.

Here, btw, is a meme that has made the rounds in the card collecting world. I like since it combines my interest in language and playing cards.

What are these days my specific areas of interest in card collecting?

• Early American jokers - From 1870 until about 1925.
• Congress decks with Matching Jokers
• Jokers on the Joker Poster by USPCC.
• Advertising jokers from the start of the 1900s. 
• Decks from 1870 to 1920 that focus on African Americans, Native Americans, and Chinese Americans.

GoNoodle Playing Care Joker

While there are many categories of jokers,  my favorite category are the topsy-turvy (two headed)  jokers. T 

Topsy Turvy Jokers - There is no upside down!

 .  A topsy turvy jokers are those that are, like so many playing cards, symmetrical along the X axis.  Or more simply, they are the same upside down as right side up. Or there is no way for them to be upside down.  Here's 71 of them as they appear in my joker album.

However, this one is not symmetrical so it doesn't really count as a topsy.

SpellingCity Joker 

If you've read this far, you are probably interested in the mechanics of joker collecting, my system for organizing jokers, and the resources available to help joker and playing card collectors.

Also, not to missed, info on the history of the playing card joker!