deck-18-07

A few days ago we have finished the first phase of our LB project: reuniting the courts, aces and jokers with the rest of the cards. So in August we will proceed with phase 2: sorting out 3 shoeboxes with decks that we already have, but of which we will have to assess if they will be an improvement of our own decks. In October, after attending the IPCS convention, we will start with phase 3: integrating the new decks into our own collection and at the same time reorganizing the complete collection in new holders. No idea how long that will take, but we hope to finish it before the new year.
This month the harvest mostly consisted of less interesting decks, but there were two Russian decks that stood out. The first was a first edition of the Rococo deck, in as new condition, printed in chromolithography and in the original box. LB had dated it as 1913, but we couldn't confirm that, as the back and box are not shown on the WWPCM site.

We chose the other deck, because the Rococo pattern is well known from all the later editions. We saw our chosen deck for the first time in 1997 in the excellent book about Art Deco decks by Uwe-Volker Segeth. We participated in his auction, but had bids on other decks. However, it has always been somewhere on our wish list. So it took us more than 20 years, but apparently patience is rewarded when your pockets are not that deep.

The deck has gold edges and was lithographically printed by the State Playing Cards Monopoly from Moscow and published as "XVIII Century" in 1930. At least that's the information from Mr. Segeth. I guess that LB has used this information, as it's the same as he noted on the added fiche. However, the WWPCM gives completely different info: printed by the CPP from St. Petersburg, published in 1934. So we decided to see what Jean Darquenne gave as information. We found the deck in Cartorama Nr. 62, described as made by the State Monopoly of Playing Cards from St. Petersburg and published in 1930. We value Jean's expertise and his descriptions, so we'll note that on our file card. There was one thing that all agreed on..... the title.

	The deck consists of 52 cards and a joker.

	Our deck didn't come with the original box, just a plastic one.

	ENJOY!
	ENJOY!