Jesters Sitting

Oct 2019 - There is an updated section to read about and see the sitting jesters or jokers.

I've put the sitting jesters and jokers into their own section of the joker collection. The key issue to this section is that they are sitting, assis, sentado, ciudad, ittingsay ... Not standing up!  Many are sitting on the floor.  Some are seated on barrels. Some are sitting on the moon. Some are contorted and are not really sitting. None of them are sitting on chairs or benches or  conventional furniture. Also, I'm not strict about them being jesters. Some probably aren't.

The first seated joker is published by John Waddington Ltd from the UK. 

This next one doesn't have a wand or a jester hat hat but he does have has big ears, a ruffle around his neck, and contrasting colors. Is he a jester? I think it's close enough for this section since he is really sitting. He might be in the process of putting on his shoes.

Two notes to my readers.

If you have a reaction or observation to one of these jokers, or if you know something about their origin or design, please share it in the comments below. Although my numbers of jokers are high, I feel my knowledge about them is very low. Please help.

Two, if you have some jokers that I do not, feel free to send them to me. Or to send me a picture of them and we can maybe find a commercial relationship. I do buy jokers. I can be reached as john then the @ sign, then edelson. Dot Info.  thanks

I think of the next one as "The Jolly Sideways Sitter". The original of this design (and I quote Tom van Berkum):
"Adet Seward Cognac" - early advertising deck by Brepols, Turnhout, Belgium ca. 1920-1925. 52 cards + 1 joker + box. 88 x 64 mm. GvB0189
BTW, I'm not sure if mine is an original or a later deck using the same design.

The Jolly Sideways Sitter

The back of the The Jolly Sideways Sitter:

The Back of the The Jolly Sideways Sitter

The following set of jokers is referred to by joker collectors, at least by Joop Miller, as Owl Man jokers. He says that they are mostly from China and there are countless variations of them.  The online World Wide Playing Card Museum has a page with well over on hundred variations of this Owl Man Joker.

How many sitting jokers do I have today (9/23/2017).  Today I have 60 jokers sitting. Not standing, not prone, not dancing.  Sixty. Enjoy

Topsy Turvy Jokers: Upside Down Both Ways

Here are some jokers that I call, topsy turvy jokers. What I mean by topsy turvy jokers is that they are symmetrical with no up or down.  I'm not totally strict about this since, for example, the first two pictured, are not totally symmetrical yet there is no way from the joker side to decide which side is up.

I'd be very interested in knowing if anyone has a better term for this style of jokers than topsy turvy. Comments please? UPDATE: I've been told common terms are mirrored or duplex jokers.

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NOTE - June, 2023: This article is obsolete. To see the updated articles on full duplex or symmetrical jokers:

1. Animals - 
2. Card Themed  
3. Musician  
4. Ladies & Masks  
5. Jesters and clowns  - Western Topsy Subsection
6. People  
7. Things  

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These first two are original jokers designed by me as part of promotional decks for my day job.  Click to read the description of the process of designing the jokers.

Ed Mouse & Penguin Jokers

Back of the Cards

HangMouse Cat & Mouse Joker

 The next two are from the GoNoodle deck. GoNoodle also is a SAS provider of educational materials primarily to elementary schools. We also both make really well designed jokers!

I like jokers, topsy turveys, and monkeys. Imagine my joy at finding all these design elements together!

 I really liked Toy Story by Pixar and I particularly liked some of the characters.  Wonder wonder of joys, here are some of my favorite characters on topsy turvy jokers.

 Another favorite of mine: a classical but original jester with his jester wand.

This next joker is known (Per Dan Nordquist and I quote him...) as SlapStick. The term "slap stick" actually comes from the Commedie del Arte, which also produced Punch and Judy and the word 'zany". This originated in Italy, many hundreds of years ago and changed the world of comedy dramatically. It was the continuation of trends begun in Greek theater and originated the idea of characters ( such as the Marx Brothers of modern times ) who always behaved in a similar way. Harlequin was another person from the Commedie. Many jokers have such characters on them.

SlapStick Joker

Polo players on a joker, symmetrically!

Another well rendered classical topsy turvy jester joker.

Another horsey themed topsy turvy joker but this time with a clown. As you may know, I don't like clowns on jokers.

The next two are long standing favorites of mine in that I remember collecting them in 1979. I was 21. I took a trip with my parents (technical exchange, my Dad was a big time space engineering technical type) to the Soviet Union. The next joker is from Russia, the one below from Finnish Air.

The jokers are pictured inside the plastic holders that I keep them in. These pages are sold primarily to collectors of baseball playing card.

I think I have 84 jokers that I count in the topsy turvy section of the joker collection.

The ones in the top photo in the top left and top right spots are original jokers designed by Time4Learning and VocabularySpellingCity.

 I'm particularly fond of the middle joker in this next set and the one on the middle row on the far right.  The reason is that I collected both of them on the same trip, a trip to Leningrad and Moscow form the US. It was 1979, I was about 21 years old. Leningrad of course is no more, now it's back to St Petersburg.

On another note, in the top left and right corners of the nine above, there is a joker known (Per Dan Nordquist and I quote him...) as SlapStick.  The term "slap stick" actually comes from the Commedie del Arte, which also produced Punch and Judy and the word 'zany". This originated in Italy, manjy hundreds of years ago and changed the world of comedy dramatically. It was the continuation of trends begun in Greek theater and originated the idea of characters ( such as the Marx Brothers of modern times ) who always behaved in a similar way. Harlequin was another person from the Commedie. Many jokers have such characters on them.

Sept 22, 2017 - Updated with the most recent set of topsy turvy jokers.  My photography is better than it was but still not good enough.

September 2018 update. I now have about 175 topsy turvy jokers. Here's a quick video of them, please excuse my production values. And another update, late March 2019. I'm at 221. 

And I'll mention one of my favorite pages, the topsy turvy ladies!

Most Popular Playing Card Jokers

While collectors and collection tend to focus on variety and the exotic jokers, I thought for Mothers Day, I'd focus on the most popular or most common of jokers.  I think it's these four playing card jokers or variations of them.

Playing Card Jokers
Most Popular

Popular Jokers

My Own Jester

Interested in jokers I am. This means playing card jokers, not the Joker from Batman. And certainly not those gaudy close figurines that I see.

Yet, I do have one court jester figure who has worked his way onto my shelves. He holds a nice bauble. And, except for my inlaid joker boxes, the rest of my collection truly are playing cards.

A jester with his bauble

Wind Instrument Jokers by Bicycle

Collecting cards has become a family affair. My son has started with the new special limited collector edition Bicycle Deck cards.  These were both published in 2012.

The gold desk has Calvin Tsang's name on it.

Bicycle Gold Elite Card Jokers

Bicycle Elite Ritual Premier

As I research these decks, here's what I'm learning.  A Kickstarter campaign was successfully funded on November 23, 2013 for GOLD Bicycle®, the first deck on Elite's "Premium Collection" series. They raised ~$80,000 so they could produce: "A meticulously crafted and elegantly refined deck."

Elite Playing CArds is a group with some relationship to Bicycle.