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U.S. Presidents playing cards

Published May 23, 2023 Updated May 23, 2023

U.S. Presidents Bicycle playing cards designed by Johnny Whaam, USA, 2015

2015 USA United States Playing Card Co. Bicycle Johnny Whaam Americana Kickstarter Political

This pack was created by Collectable Playing Cards, designed by Johnny Whaam, and printed as a Bicycle deck by the United States Playing card Company in 2015. Each card has been hand drawn in the most intricate detail to feature 44 presidents (up to and including Barack Obama) and 4 popular first ladies as queens. Those chosen to appear on the court cards were based on popularity and the president’s influence on the nation’s history. The remaining presidents are uniquely featured on the number cards. The aces feature the Liberty Bell (hearts), the Statue of Liberty (spades), the Eye of Providence (diamonds), and Mount Rushmore (clubs). Uncle Sam (a common national personification of the American government) appears on the two jokers. The pack was issued as a Kickstarter project in three versions: one with a Republican red tuck box, a second with a Democratic blue tuck box, and the third was issued with a de-luxe embossed tuck box. See the box

U.S. Presidents Bicycle playing cards designed by Johnny Whaam, USA, 2015 U.S. Presidents Bicycle playing cards designed by Johnny Whaam, USA, 2015 U.S. Presidents Bicycle playing cards designed by Johnny Whaam, USA, 2015

Above: U.S. Presidents Bicycle playing cards designed by Johnny Whaam, USA, 2015.

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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.

Russian Playing Cards

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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