Maxim playing cards
Publicity pack from Nintendo for Maxim freeze dried coffee.
For once it is the back design which is more interesting than the court cards: on it one can find coffee plants, a basket and a sack of coffee beans, an old sign and an old cup, coffee pots, etc., advertising Maxim freeze dried coffee (a Maxwell House brand). The non-standard, double-ended courts are dressed in historical costume and are shown drinking cups of coffee. The court card designs are the same in each suit. There is a special Ace of Spades. A fancy style of lettering has been used for the indices which are all black, even on the red suits. An edition of 3,000 packs.
Above: Maxim playing cards made by Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd, Kyoto, Japan, 1970. 52 cards + 2 (identical) Jokers in plastic box. Size: 57 x 87 mm.
By Roddy Somerville
Member since May 31, 2022
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 cards, postcards, stamps (especially playing cards on stamps) and sugar wrappers. He is a Past President of the Scottish Philatelic Society, a former Chairman of the IPCS, a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards and Curator of the WCMPC’s collection of playing cards. He lives near Toulouse in France.
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