Ukraine playing cards
Historical figures from Ukraine’s past in a familiar Piatnik style.
Hetmans were military commanders in Central and Eastern Europe between 1505 and 1795, with the title being revived in Ukraine between 1917 and 1921. Four hetmans are shown on the kings, while famous Ukrainian women appear on the queens. The jacks are all leaders of the liberation movement in Ukraine. Each of the 12 characters is named in Ukrainian and English. The Joker is Cossack Mamay, a popular Ukrainian folk hero, one of the standard characters in traditional Ukrainian itinerant puppet theatre. Incorporated into the back design are heraldic symbols of the Ukrainian hetmans featured on the kings.
On the lid of the box is a detail from a painting by the Russian artist Ilya Repin (1844-1930) depicting the “Zaporozhian Cossacks of Ukraine Writing a Letter in Reply to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire”.
Above: Ukraine playing cards made by Piatnik, Vienna, Austria, for Chaspik Co., Lviv, Ukraine, 2007. 2 x 52 cards + 3 Jokers + leaflet in Ukrainian and English in drop-lid box. Size: 58 x 89 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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