Farmall playing cards
Farmall playing cards advertising International Harvester tractors, USA, c.2015.
Farmall is a brand name for tractors manufactured by International Harvester (IH), an American truck, tractor, and construction equipment company. This non-standard pack contains 52 cards and 2 jokers. While the card backs feature the Farmall logo, all the face cards, aces and jokers have photographs of vintage Farmall advertisements and tractors. The same photos are used for the same values in all four suits (i.e., 4 Kings the same, 4 Queens the same, etc.), and so there are a total of 14 original designs, including the Jokers. See the box►
Above: Farmall playing cards advertising International Harvester (IH) tractors, USA, c.2015. Cards printed in China.
NOTE: All Farmall tractors were painted a deep blue-grey until mid-1936 after which a decision was made to change the entire tractor to a new colour, 'Farmall Red'. The brand was prominent particularly during the 1940s and the 1950s, but began to decline from the 1960s onwards. Production ceased in the 1970s but in 2004 Farmall brand tractors were reintroduced intended for small-acreage farms.
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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