Circa 1955 Pack of Linette Playing Cards from Thomas De La Rue Playing Card Company

I usually don't open sealed packs of vintage cards but the shrinkwrap on these Thomas De La Rue Linette Playing Cards was tattered and looked to have incurred slight moisture exposure. Plus the box has one flap torn off and and and... I'll eventually use them for a cartomancy reading when the spirit hits me.

The obverse is a generic blue pattern of varying geometric shapes and filigree.

According to the World of Playing Cards site the colored joker shown below appeared around 1955. Which is when the Ace of Spades for the De La Rue brand also changed from the one shown above to a slightly altered version before undergoing another modernization.

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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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