W.C. Fields Commemorative playing cards
W.C. Fields Commemorative playing cards, USA, 1972
This pack was published in 1972 by The Gamekeepers, Minneapolis and designed by J.L. Brown. While the pip cards are standard, the aces and court cards show a grainy black-and-white photo of the American comedian W.C. Fields (1880-1946) below which is one of the famous quips and comic lines from his films or comedy routines. In addition to the two jokers there is a leaflet describing “16 proven ways to cheat at cards”.
Above: W.C. Fields Commemorative playing cards, USA, 1972.
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.
Related Articles
Love Tests
Vintage novelty “Love Test” cards of a slightly saucy nature but all in good fun!
Le Globe Céleste
Views and plans of five international exhibitions held in Paris between 1855 and 1900.
Get Decked
Black and white cartoons devised by Sam Wagner with help from artist Lindsay Bevington.
Baraja de Juan Martín Zamorano
Deck inspired by El Pendón de los Zamorano, a military pennant dating from 1501, published by Priego...
Beowulf
Jackson Robinson's Beowulf playing card deck inspired by the Old English pagan poem.
Keith Haring playing cards
Energetic graffiti images by the American artist Keith Haring.
2011 Worshipful Company Pack
Celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, with characters adapted from drawings b...
Carte di Colombo
Fully illustrated pack designed by Pier Canosa commemorating the 500th anniversary of the discovery ...
The Tarot of Meditation – Yeager Tarot
Marty Yeager’s original Tarot of Meditation from 1975, republished later by U.S. Games Systems, Inc....
Adobe Deck
The first digitally-produced deck of cards.
Seminole Wars deck
Seminole Wars deck by J. Y. Humphreys, Philadelphia, c.1819.
The UCR Deck
Giant-size cards designed by Thomas Sanders to advertise courses and facilities at UCR.
Fredericks & Mae playing cards
A rainbow pack from the design team of Fredericks & Mae and Benjamin English.
Verkeers Kwartet
A helpful quartet game celebrating the 75th anniversary of road safety exams making traffic safer.
Red Hat Society playing cards
Society that encourages women in their quest to get the most out of life.
Question and Answer Games
A card game called “Impertinent Questions and Pertinent Answers” was launched in the early 1920s by ...
Most Popular
Our top articles from the past 28 days
