JANUARY 2006

Among others we have acquired 13 Karl Gerich jokers this month and each could be made "joker of the month" here. But as they are already on xpo elswhere on this site, we have chosen to select another one.

We found this joker during the general collectors fair in Utrecht, together with several others. The joker was made by Nintendo from Japan for the Maizuru Jukogyo Ltd, probably in the 1980's. Judging by the backdesign this company produces military vessels, but the joker shows two colourful fishes.

Filing the joker, we found inspiration for a new joker xpo: "waterworld". If you want to see what other creatures flock the seas............just click the joker!

FEBRUARY 2006

Around the 20th we received a number of decks from Argentina. One was a "Fantasio" brand standard deck. About a week later we received a single deck from Argentina from the 1950's. We were surprised to see that it had the same image and brandname on the joker. With so much coincidence it was quickly decided that this should be the joker of this month. The manufacturer is Igor L.M. Domicelj from Buenos Aires.
The joker from the 1950's has a slightly different design and different lettering than the one that was made some 50 years later (see here below). Both jokers come in a red and black version.

MARCH 2006

We have been swapping jokers for many years now with an elder woman from Amsterdam. It started when we had just begun collecting jokers and nowadays we visit her once in every 3 or 4 months. At first swapping and talking about jokers was the main thing. Nowadays it's more a social visit, with some swapping. But sometimes she has new or remarkable jokers. This was one of them. As we don't have the deck, we can only guess its origin. We think this lovely lady comes from Poland. We're not sure about the letters J E R K. They are gathered around the starred circle, so it will probably be intended to spell JOKER, but they may just as well just say what you read!

Anyway, this one was the cutest this month.

APRIL 2006

This month's joker came from a deck that was made by Andrew Dougherty from New York ca. 1905. The deck itself wasn't very interesting for us, as it has a standard anglo-american (international) pattern, and we acquired it just for the joker.

We bought it on Ebay and the seller turned out to be a member of the 52+J club too, so the transaction was quick and pleasant. We already told him that the joker would probably make it to this page, but that was halfway April.

The last week of April was spend in Berlin and brought us a good number of new decks, but if they contained any jokers, these were no match. This joker is a gem, so we'll let it's diamond shine on at this spot.

MAY 2006

This was a relatively slow month for new jokers, so making a choice wasn't that difficult. This month's joker comes from Argentina again. We have been in touch with some people from Argentina and this has resulted in our membership of the Argentine Club of Playing Card Collectors, the ASACON. In their database of Spanish suited decks we have seen some interesting jokers (and decks too!). Although these are not for sale, we'll certainly try to swap jokers or decks with Argentinian collectors and maybe you'll see some more of them here.

While processing the new Argentine decks, we stumbled upon a nice idea for a new joker xpo. So visit xpo # 51 !!

JUNE 2006

This joker is 115 years old. He comes from a card game called "Khanhoo", that was made by Chas. Goodall & Son from London in 1891.
The set came in the original box and the cards were still in their original wrappers. There were even 2 small booklets with the rules of the game, one in English and one in Dutch. The latter was dated 1892. The game uses 2 jokers and of course they were both there, but you won't find the other among our duplicates. We like to keep our decks complete!

We didn't find it on Ebay, nor on a fleamarket or in an antique shop. We had advertised ourselves in a national collectors magazine and someone noticed our ad and gave us a call. Now, that's the way to do it!

JULY 2006

This month it was an easy choice. Ever since the beginning of this year there have been special exhibitions, projects and editions to remind us that one of our greatest artists was born 400 years ago, on July 15th 1606. And there's more to come.
So there was almost no way to avoid it and we had to do something with Rembrandt too.
In the Rembrandthuis (the original house where Rembrandt spent his best years in Amsterdam) we bought a deck of playing cards, that was published to celebrate this "Rembrandt Year". 

So here's the new joker of the month and guess who's on it...........

By clicking the joker you can see the complete deck in our special Rembrandt Xpo!

AUGUST 2006

We have received a good number of new decks this month. A nephew and his wife had visited China in their vacation and they always take along non-standard decks for us. Usually they'll find one or two decks, but now they felt as if they were in a candystore and brought back quite a stack.

But this joker doesn't come from one of those decks. It comes from a deck that was published in the US in 2003 to commemorate the 75th birthday of this well-known Disney character. The deck shows a repeated series of 13 Mickey Mouse designs and this joker (the 2nd one has the same design) makes it 14 in total. 

Mickey has always been one of our fav Disney characters, so this was our chance!

SEPTEMBER 2006

This month the annual convention of the International Playing Card Society was held in Issy-les-Moulineaux, a suburb of Paris. The meeting was organised by l'Accart, the French club of playing card collectors. Of course the French museum of playing cards, that is located in Issy-les-Moulineaux, played an important part in this convention. A new exhibition about René Henri d'Allemagne, a collector of games, mechanical toys and playing cards, was opened on the 1st day of the convention and all participants received a bag that contained -besides the convention papers- 2 decks of playing cards as a gift. One of the decks is called the "Jeu'd'Issy". It was published by the museum and the joker shows the museum logo, that was designed by Jacques Auriac, a renowned French illustrator.

Of course we gathered a good number of new decks during our stay in Paris, but in order to emphasize the importance of these meetings between collectors from all over the world we have chosen this joker as best of this month.

OCTOBER 2006

October turned out to be a busy month. There was a general collectors fair in Utrecht where we have a booth each time. And a week later there was the meeting of the Dutch collectors of playing cards in Nieuwerbrug and we always have a table there too. Both brought us new decks and jokers, but this month's joker comes from Ebay and arrived just in time to make it the best of this month. It's a small one, but in quality size doesn't really matter.

The joker comes from an American deck that was printed by the USPC and published in 1906 as Buster Brown playing cards. Buster Brown is a comic character and all 52 cards in the deck show several series of cartoons in which he and his dog Tige have different adventures. The cards measure 43 x 63 mm.

NOVEMBER 2006

This joker came to us very early in the month. It comes from a French advertising deck for KLG sparking plugs. The deck has special designed courts and was probably made in the late 1950's or early 60's.

We have received quite a number of new decks and jokers this month. But as we both were immediately taken by the design of the KLG joker, we spent the rest of the month comparing it with every other new joker, that arrived. Although some came close, it survived this process without any real problems, so.............here it is as new joker of the month!

DECEMBER 2006

December was a hectic month, that begun it's first weekend with the Jaarbeurs Collectors Fair, one of the greatest markets for antiques and curiosa in Europe. This means walking a marathon, but somehow it is always a rewarding event, in terms of new decks for our collection. The deck where this joker comes from, was one of these.

It is a French deck, that was designed by Fernand Nathan in 1980. The deck comes with 3 jokers, that all show the same design, but in different colours.

Although we've also received a beautiful artist deck by Ruth Kedar, with jokers that were pretty competitive with this one, that deck - and it's jokers of course- will get attention elsewhere on our site soon.

The jokers of the month from.....