Freimaurer Spielkarten / Masonic playing cards
Masonic playing cards created by Ivan Wojnikow, 2004.
This pack of Masonic cards was created by Ivan Wojnikow, printed by ACE Altenburger, and published by Edition Araki in 2004. The numerals of each of the pip cards display the same Masonic symbols in each suit: for example, the three’s show the square, the compasses and the volume of the Sacred Law; the five’s show a pentagram; the sixes the hexagram; the eight’s – a knotted coil (the symbol of eternity) - see more►
Each suit represents a different period: diamonds – the world of antiquity; hearts – the Middle Ages; spades – the Enlightenment; clubs – the present - read more. There are three jokers representing the “Candidate” searching for Masonic light. A leaflet in German, English and French describes the cards in detail, and the pack is beautifully presented in a silver box►
Above: Freimaurer Spielkarten / Masonic playing cards created by Ivan Wojnikow, printed by ACE Altenburger, and published by Edition Araki in 2004.
By Peter Burnett
Member since July 27, 2022
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 interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
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