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The World of Playing Cards connects researchers, collectors, artists and historians worldwide to offer detailed insights into playing cards.

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Albinas Borisevičius

I have been collecting cards since 1968, of course, then there were no contacts with world collectors, so my collection was very small. It was only in 1991, when Lithuania declared its independence, that it was possible to have contact with the wo... Read more...

1989 Four Races
1920 Unknown Publisher
1936 Zole

Paul Bostock

Paul has been a collector of playing cards since his early teenage years, the mid 1970s. In the last 20 years or so he has specialised in standard English cards and their story. His collection, including many other English Standards, are featured o... Read more...

Peter Burnett

I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long intere... Read more...
2022 Clear Skies
2018 Santo Mexico playing cards
2022 Pride playing cards

Ana Cortez

Ana Cortez is the author of "The Playing Card Oracles, A Source Book for Divination" and "Oracle Alchemy." Daughter of Oracle creator and illustrator C.J. Freeman, she is a self-described misfit, truth seeker, rule breaker, and freak for the supernat... Read more...

Tony Hall

I started my interest in card games about 70 years ago, playing cribbage with my grandfather. Collecting card game materials started 50 years or so later, when time permitted. One cribbage board was a memory; two became the start of a collection c... Read more...

1920 Question and Answer Games
2024 Agatha Christie and card games
1920 Gibson’s History of England

Ken Lodge

​I'm Ken Lodge and have been collecting playing cards since I was about eighteen months old (1945). I am also a trained academic, so I can observe and analyze reasonably well. I've applied these analytical techniques over a long period of time to... Read more...
1812 76: Transitions: Hunt & Sons

Alberto Pérez González

I am a researcher and my primary interest lies in playing cards manufactured in Cádiz (not the 'Cádiz' type in general). I have authored several articles in the annual Asescoin magazine 'La Sota'. Among them are:... Read more...

1790 Pere Pau Rotxotxo Puigdoura
1816 Spanish-suited deck by J.Y. Humphreys
1800 Baraja Carlos IV by Félix Solesio, 1800

Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

Rex's main interest was in card games, because, he said, they were cheap and easy to get hold of in his early days of collecting. He is well known for his extensive knowledge of Pepys games... Read more...

Matt Probert

I have adored playing cards since before I was seven years old, and was brought up on packs of Waddington's No 1. As a child I was fascinated by the pictures of the court cards.

Over the next fifty years I was seduced by the artwork in Pi... Read more...

2019 Ye Witches’ Fortune Cards
2002 Carte da Gioco Toscana
2019 Diaoyu Poker 8068

Klaus-Juergen Schultz

From the collection of Klaus-Jürgen Schultz (https://spielkarten-sammlung.de). Read more...
1850 Translucent Playing Cards
1825 Unknown Maker
1800 Joseph Losch

Ann and John Sings

Articles and contributions by Ann & John Sings. Visit Games et al Read more...
1817 Baron Louis Atthalin’s Transformation Playing Cards, 1817
1808 The Kiss, 1808
1705 Royal Cards Reign of Queen Anne

Roddy Somerville

Roddy started collecting stamps on his 8th birthday. In 1977 he joined the newly formed playing-card department at Stanley Gibbons in London before setting up his own business in Edinburgh four years later. His collecting interests include playing ca... Read more...
1983 Politiker-Skat by Bubec
1983 Le Poker Politique
1978 Modern Jass (Fredy Sigg)

Rod Starling (1936-2023)

Rod Starling was one of the founding members of the 52 Plus Joker card collectors club. He authored many articles for the club's quarterly newsletter, Clear the Decks. His collection encompasses both foreign and American decks. Rod also authored a... Read more...

Paul Symons

I'm British but I have now lived in the Netherlands for more than 50 years and am still enjoying every minute of it. I started collecting playing cards in the early 1980’s after speaking with my neighbour who was at that time a croupier in a casino. ... Read more...
1980 Eves Playing Cards
1930 Celluloid Kasino-Poker Nr.92
1880 Âs Nas playing cards with box

Ian Taylor

I've played card games from the age of three, collecting all things "cards" from 16 and finally started to specialise at 58! Thanks to these wonderful pages and a certain Mr Lodge, my main interest is in British decks, with examples of the English st... Read more...
1994 Medieval Heraldry
1973 Colonial Art
2018 Marmite

Barney Townshend

Retired Airline Pilot, interested in: Transformation Playing Cards, Karl Gerich and Elaine Lewis. Secretary of the EPCS. T... Read more...
1930 Jägerkarte Nr.465
1867 Englische Karten nr.190
1988 Karl Gerich No. 25: “Great Mogul”

Jan Walls

I collected playing cards since I was in primary school. Read more...

Adam West-Watson

I have been fascinated by playing cards ever since I can remember, and still have several of the card games I had as a child. And although I had accumulated quite a number of packs of various sorts over the years, it wasn't until I was in my 50s that... Read more...
1979 Morgan-Greer Tarot
1996 New Palladini Tarot
1970 The Aquarian Tarot Deck

Simon Wintle

Founder and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently li... Read more...
1710 Dr Sacheverell
1872 Cartes politiques : Jeu d'actualité
1898 Russian Circus deck

Adam Wintle

Adam has been involved in developing the site as well as reviewing new decks and conducting research. He is particularly interested in innovation, Kickstarter and East Asian cards. He is a member of the IPCS and webmaster of the EPCS. Read more...
1975 Hanuman and the Five Riders
2022 Quên Tarot
2023 The Tarot Strikes Back

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For collectors, researchers, students, academics and others like yourself.

Share the treasures of your collection. You can upload anything. Antique packs, cardistry, children’s card games, share your cherished collection, start your own playing card blog, post your sale list, review your favourite packs, or promote Kickstarter projects.

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