Forcolar Playing Cards

I'm in the spendthrift buying and hoarding stage of card collecting after slowly building up prudently and frugally. As such, cards such as the Forcolar brand instantly attract me since they seemingly have relative low value to most people and they went defunct rather quickly with their employed gimmick. Being colorblind it works for me. Not in the way that one might think because I can clearly see color, just in the wrong perspective due to faulty cones in my peepers. As such, I've always seemed to look at the things that others don't, though this is seemingly not a condition of the malfunction of colorblindness. I have two brothers and know quite a few people who have various color spectrum issues and none of them are quite as zany as I am. I suppose that much of that aspect has something to do with being in cramped quarters with 5 brothers and basically having little to no privacy for the entirety of my childhood. So I seemingly purposely grasp onto things that nobody else is interested in and make it a mania for myself. So be it. Forcolar, spelling as it's shown here, is the perfect hook for such an endeavor. Now to get me some actual cards. Until then, here's a newspaper advertisement for the cards:

New York Daily News, June 13, 1948

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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.

Finding the Four of Clubs

Before going on my walk today while crossing the threshold of the front door to my enclosed porch I suddenly thought, "I'm going to find a playing card today." Something which I hadn't done since last year when I found a slew of them which led to my interest in cartomancy and eventually the amassing of dozens of decks. Anyway, I found it interesting. As far as symbolism and cartomancy go: "The Four of Clubs is called by sailors the Devil's Bedposts." "...in the old game of Gleek all the fours were named Tiddy." 'The Four of Clubs is a card of strengthening friendships and increased social capacities. It suggests that the Querent is held in warm affection and high regard by those about him but that he is not fully aware of this cherishing. The intimation is that, in case of need, he may find assistance from unexpected sources. "This card represents gradual growth, a day by day tightening of bonds of affection which may escape the Qu...

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