This Red Joker Card is a classic design for playing cards featuring a blue, white and red background.
Upcycled Vintage playing cards are stylish greetings cards or ready-for-framing artwork. Each is an original and can be framed to create a unique addition to your style-conscious home.
A Brief History of playing cards
The history of playing cards isn’t something I think about every day ! There are some interesting facts hiding beneath the surface which makes their history quite interesting. Briefly, it seems like the Chinese had playing cards in the 9th century. Playing games with cards made its way to Italy through Arabia and may well be something brought back from the Crusades (like Moorish Dancing). Either way the cards we play with in the UK are largely a French import.
In the 14th century, the Italians had suites named swords, clubs cups and coins. These cards required hand painting and were therefore costly. The Germans had suits like acorns, leaves, bells and hearts. Most packs were usually of 52 cards and made up of 4 suites. A variation of court cards were used bacause sometimes a Queen was omittted.
Spainish packs were often of only 40 cards (which narrowed the odds a bit). In the French tradition, 52 cards of 4 suites using hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades were used. The French gaind a competitive advantabe by the idea of using simple black and red patterns. Cards could now be made cheaply from stencils and French made cards came to dominate the market.
The British Government saw a chance to tax playing cards (1710) and to ensure the taxes were collected a stamp (stamp duty) was applied to the Ace of Spades. In the 1820s, to reduce tax evasion, the Ace of Spades had to be purchased from the Stamp Duty Commissioners. In 1862 manufacturers (like Thomas De La Rue, who mass produced and reduced costs) were allowed to print their own Ace of Spades and many fancy designs, showing the ‘stamp’ and other information became the norm. Card tax was only abolished in 1960.
On the face of it…. court cards
People ask “Who is represented on court cards” ? I like the idea of these traditional identities.
Kings:
- David, Biblical king (Spades)
- Alexander the Great, Greek leader (Clubs)
- Charlemagne, king of the Franks (Hearts)
- Julius Caesar, Roman leader (Diamonds)
Queens:
- Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess (Spades)
- Argine, an anagram of the Latin word Regina meaning Queen (Clubs)
- Judith, from the apocryphal book of the same name (Hearts)
- Rachel, the wife of the Biblical Jacob (Diamonds)
Jacks:
- Ogier the Dane, legendary knight of Charlemagne (Spades)
- Lancelot, legendary knight of King Arthur (Clubs)
- La Hire, French military commander Étienne de Vignolles (Hearts)
- Hector, the mythological hero of Troy (Diamonds)
If you like this Red Joker Card, you can see more of the vintage playing card series available at Abrahams Store here.
Want to learn more about the history of playing card ?…. then click here.
