Thanks to Jerry

My friend Jerry Witte found me a rather old deck from China, with these gorgeous jokers.  Thanks Jerry.

Thanks to Rev

One of the best parts of collecting anything is when friends think to contribute to your collection.  Rev, thanks.  He bought me two new jokers while on a trip to Charleston.  Well done!

 The second of the two (pictured to the right) is a slight variation on one of the very common joker designs (see Joker Collection pp. 31a & 31b).  The first one is a fascinating combination of this same joker design plus the head, falling cards, and banner from another very common design: "the world joker" used by Carta Mundi (see Joker Collection pp. 55a & 55b). 

March birding trip

I just got back from a little birdwatching trip to Asheville and Hendersonville NC.  I only saw one new bird, but I came up with a few new jokers from various toy and tourist shops.  Why is it the most expensive cards are the ones that turn out to have the same old jokers?