Deutfracht Seereederei Rostock II
Maritime deck designed by Klaus Ensikat for Deutsche Seereederei Rostock, GDR.
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‘Deutfracht Seereederei Rostock II’ produced for VEB Deutsche Seereederei Rostock.
Deutsche Seereederei Rostock was a state-owned shipping company in the GDR from 1952 to 1974, then it was re-classified. This promotional deck was brilliantly designed by Klaus Ensikat to reflect the company’s global outreach. Legendary characters on the court cards include The Flying Dutchman, Lord Nelson, Sir Francis Drake, Sinbad the Sailor and Captain Nemo. The aces are sea monsters. Boats from around the world are featured on the pip cards.
You will probably need a magnifying glass to read the captions which are squeezed into the narrow borders on each card.
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Above: ‘Deutfracht Seereederei Rostock II’ designed by Klaus Ensikat and produced for VEB Deutsche Seereederei Rostock, c.1988. Double-ended version in double box in plastic case, each deck has 52 cards + 3 jokers. Manufactured by AS of East Germany.
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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)
Member since January 30, 2009
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 and his book is on the bookshelves of many.
His other interest was non-standard playing cards. He also had collections of sheet music, music CDs, models of London buses, London Transport timetables and maps and other objects that intrigued him.
Rex had a chequered career at school. He was expelled twice, on one occasion for smoking! Despite this he trained as a radio engineer and worked for the BBC in the World Service.
Later he moved into sales and worked for a firm that made all kinds of packaging, a job he enjoyed until his retirement. He became an expert on boxes and would always investigate those that held his cards. He could always recognize a box made for Pepys, which were the same as those of Alf Cooke’s Universal Playing Card Company, who printed the card games. This interest changed into an ability to make and mend boxes, which he did with great dexterity. He loved this kind of handicraft work.
His dexterity of hand and eye soon led to his making card games of his own design. He spent hours and hours carefully cutting them out and colouring them by hand.
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