Apollo Playing Card Awrey's Bakery Deck

Awrey's Bakery has been around longer than any of us and being that it originated in Detroit via Ontario, Canada it has been ingrained in my psyche since I've been able to think. Not that it has played any prominent role in my life but it has always been in the background especially since a longtime girlfriend lived near one of their main bakery outlets and I drove by it regularly for years. Anyway, this is about cards and not personal nostalgia so let's get on with it.

The Apollo Ace of Spades is the prototypical filigreed embellishment with the name APOLLO sat in the center of the large pop in block letters with "Made in the U. S. A." written under it in semi-cursive. Since I have zero experience with Apollo Playing Cards I can't really comment on it beyond that.

The Jokers from this pack are a bit curious in that they are laid out in the fashion of a Face Card in two halves with both a torso and head on bottom and top with the hands enfolded, one card having JOKER printed in red and the other in black. Sat on each side of the divided torsos are the Club and Spades pips with the HEARTS and DIAMONDS pips on the Joker's vest.

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A Card Within a Card: 3 Jokers and Theirs

As ruminated upon in a previous post here are three more Jokers who are depicted wielding other cards within their own. The first one is openly presenting the Ace of Spades while concealing three others with a mere Diamond peeking out over one corner of the trumvirate. On the second Joker, from a Scandinavian deck, The King of Diamonds is figured prominently as the Joker leans upon it. His poppet Joker is also holding an Ace of Hearts. What it all means would depend on the manufacturer and artist, I suppose. The last specimen from Longfield Games features an Ace of Spades as the Joker stands upon a depiction of the world as a globe which seems almost 3/4 there but not quite whole. All interpretations of this and the preceding ones would be mere speculation and without knowing the artist and his source inspiration it would mainly be a stab into the void. Which is basically what this entire blog consists of.

Tart Rhymes

I came across this excellent booklet from The U. S. Playing Card Co. on Instagram and then tracked down its source to eBay where I took advantage of the generous photos on the listing and saved them in e-book form because it's the right thing to do for posterity's sake. The booklets contains a very short sequence of rhymes that make for one bizarre folktale that wouldn't cut it in today's cancel culture. Also displayed in the small booklet are some card packs produced by the company which is very helpful towards dating the cards for novices who don't have access to the company's historical records.

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