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# 11

A great small find!

This month a long story about a tiny piece of playing card.
Collectors of playing cards are so much focused on the size and the shape of packs that they spot them everywhere, in a split second. Psychologists have a name for it: selective perception. We see everything but we notice primarily items reflecting to what is in our mind. So if you like blond women you will see them everywhere, more than someone who prefers dark beauties. And when you think about playing cards often, you will immediately notice playing cards if they are somewhere within the reach of your eyes.
 
Personally I suffer from a much more serious variant: suspicious selective perception. No matter what I see, I always think about the possibility that playing cards might have been used for it or left in it. Every old book can hide playing cards in its binding. Behind every antique cupboard a playing card can be stuck. Cards can be left under old wooden floors or in holes in walls. In Denmark playing cards were discovered inside an old church organ. In Sweden a treasure of old playing cards was found in an old silk dress. And in Germany an uncut sheet of very old playing cards has been found inside a chair. So I’m always on the look out, using my imagination to think of what creative human beings can do with playing cards.

 
A few years ago on a mass collectors fair I noticed this small tin brooch. No idea why it caught my attention. Suddenly I found myself there, taking the brooch in my hand. The salesman told me that these items were very popular at the end of the 19th century, when photography became more popular and cheaper. Ordinary people could afford a small picture of their beloved ones, and this brooch was especially made to hold a small photograph. With my suspicious mind I turned the brooch over to see the back. In the metal back two holes were made to fix the pin. Although the holes were very small, inside I recognized a pattern from French playing card backs around 1900. What an exciting find! I bought the brooch and could not wait to get home. After carefully opening the back of the brooch, a round piece of playing card fell out. It is part of a Diamond (Ace?). The small photographic portrait was printed on very thin paper and the playing card chip was used to fill up the space, so the glass would not rattle.

I love finds like this! If you have found anything special on secondary use of playing cards please let me know.
      

Gejus                                    

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