Holy Trinity Church playing cards
Holy Trinity Church commemoration playing cards, USA, 2011.
This pack celebrates 150 years of the first Catholic Church in Hackensack, New Jersey, founded in 1861 and originally called St. Lawrence. By the end of the Civil War, a decision was made to build a larger church. The new structure was dedicated on April 9, 1868 with a name change to the "Church of the Most Holy Trinity". It is now known as Holy Trinity Church. See the box►
Published by Real Souvenir Playing Cards (a part of Newt’s Playing Cards) in 2011, each card portrays a pastor, vicar, bishop or reverend associated with the Church, or church relics, Madonnas, icons, tapestries, altars, etc. Saints are shown on the Queens. The two jokers are two popes: Pius IX – Pope in 1861 when the Holy Trinity was founded, and Benedict XVI – Pope in 2011 when the church celebrated 150 years. In addition, there are two "trivia" cards sponsored by local organisations.
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Above: Holy Trinity Church playing cards published by Real Souvenir Playing Cards (a part of Newt’s Playing Cards) in 2011.
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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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