Birthday jokers!

Thanks mom!

My birthday brought a package from my mother with five new decks and l0 new jokers.  They include one from a Peanuts deck showing Sally laughing, 3 from an "A Bug's Life" showing the villain "Hopper" (a grasshopper voiced by Dennis Hopper... get it?).  There are also two decks from Heritage (I've updated the list below to include them): African animals and Asian animals.  Ever heard of a Lesser Malay Chevrotain or a Sundeval's Skink?  Well now you have.

Jokers make great gifts!

There are so many wonderful jokers out there that I have not been able to purchase!

For example: The Heritage Playing Card Company makes a whole set of gorgeous decks on various themes.


You can find them at www.heritageplayingcards.com As of now, I own:

Wild Flowers
Backyard Birds
Exotic Birds
Insects & Spiders
Herbs
Fish
Dinosaurs
Fruits of the World
Butterflies of the World
Asian Animals
African Animals
Cats of the World (3/11)
Horses & Ponies of the World (5/11)
Classic Roses (6/11)
*
Heritage of Scotland

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Additionally, Piatnik makes an amazing number of absolutely gorgeous cards, and decks usually contain 3 rather than just 2 jokers!
http://piatnikcardgames.co.uk/produkte/index.php/33/uk/en/spielekarten/unique_singles

And take a look at the "luxury cards". 
http://piatnikcardgames.co.uk/produkte/index.php/142/uk/en/spielekarten/luxury_cards/de_luxe

To date, I only have
Rococo (No. 213045)*    [deluxe]
The American Civil War (No. 1475)
Ukiyo-E (No. 110412)
Mucha Paintings (No. 110313)
art detail (No. 114915)
the Nude (No. 1129)


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Finally, U.S. Games Systems has some nice cards, too.

http://www.usgamesinc.com/home.php?cat=11

I've only collected 4 of the decks in the "Natural World" series:

Trees of the World
Birds of Prey of the World
Wildflowers of the World
Freshwater Fish of the World

Washington Jokers

I've just come back from Washington where among other things, I was looking for new jokers.  I visited the Smithsonian museums of American History, Air and Space, and Indian History, plus the Castle, but managed to only find one joker.  Then I ran into the mother lode at the Library of Congress gift shop.  If only I had another hundred dollars just to buy jokers!

A great trade

This month, because of this blog, I got in contact with another joker collector and made a fantastic 33 joker trade.  So I'm proud to add these jokers to my display.  They're all colorful and fun, and most of them are Belgian!  Thanks Sven Van Landeghem!

Check them out.  Click on "view all" to the right.  Then look at Jokers 09a, 09b, 10, 13a, and 13b.

Steven

Update

I added a few new Jokers to the collection today and have started adding descriptions.  I've been having a lot of fun looking up the companies and the subjects depicted in these jokers.  I hope you'll find them interesting too.

My Joker Collection

This site displays my collection of playing card jokers (and a few other joker images). As of July 2010 I have about 440 distinct jokers. 

[Clicking on "View All" under the slideshow to the right will bring you to a Photobucket album, where you can peruse at your own pace]

I've long been astonished at the great variety of design of jokers, and I invite you to get a sense of that here. Many of them are simple, but others are quite beautiful. Most evoke some sense of mischief or silliness, which I find charming. Many are depictions of jesters or fools, who, though primarily entertainers, had the right - and sometimes the wisdom - to speak the unpopular truth.

Some of the jokers are similar, but they all have clear uniquenesses, either in color, size, text, or design. Many decks include 2 or even 3 distinct jokers, each of which I display separately. But I do not consider the black and white version of a colored (often red) design a different joker. In that case, I usually count and display the red version only.

I'm proud of the size of this collection, but I know it is small compared to some. I'm always looking to make it bigger and more interesting. If you have any you'd like to contribute, I will include a nice message on this blog about you. I also have a number of "extra" jokers I'd like to trade for some I don't have.  [They are viewable in the slideshow below right. Please email me if you would like to trade] 

In addition, as you might imagine, I'm "blessed with" many many decks of cards that I have no use for. If anyone collects other cards (such as aces of spades), or simply needs a deck or two, and can pay shipping, I'd be glad to offer them.