Stacked Deck
“Stacked Deck” business caricature playing cards, USA, c. 2003.
This undated pack (probably c. 2001-2004) features a caricature of a business leader on each card, along with a brief description of who the person is. The extra card that accompanies the deck begins: “For far too long, America’s biggest corporate baddies have been stacking the deck in their favor – at the expense of their employees, customers and shareholders. So we’ve put together The Stacked Deck, a quality playing card set that enshrines these fine professionals in the annals of corporate history.” There is reference to a website (www.thestackeddeck.com – no longer accessible) and a telephone number with area code 404 (i.e. Atlanta, Georgia). The deck has 52 cards, plus a card with the “back” design on both sides, plus the extra card noted above. There are 2 wild jokers from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Above: “Stacked Deck” business caricature playing cards, USA, c.2003.
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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