England

[Jock1971]

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[volantangel]

This is such a lovely deck. Brilliant find at that price !

[dazzleguts]

The jokers are so often missing for these older decks since they are not used in so many games. Still I often check the sellers sales to see if they are listing jokers separately - a questionable practice but it is unfortunately done sometimes.

A very good price for a deck this old. Have you looked to see what the jokers look like? Sometimes they are not as good as the rest of the deck anyway.

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[Eoghann]

I have the Shakespeare decks, the green and pink backs. They're great. I'm glad to see them here.

[volantangel]

Brilliant decks ! Perhaps i should post pics of the original DMC Sharks =)

[Jock1971]

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[volantangel]

Your wish is my command ! The court cards are all standard except for the king with DMC's face on it. Comes with a doublebacker and blank face as shown.

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[dazzleguts]

Thanks for the compliment on the smilies Jase . I was mostly streamlining, and tweeking, someone else's work on the original UC smilies, but the drooler is my own. Just seemed like a natural for UC.

That great joker in your Grants deck reminds me of another deck, which I will put up soon in France. It also reminds me of the Upside-Downs comic strip, from around 1904, that was peopled by 2-bodied figures like those jokers. You have to turn the comic strip upside down to read the last half of the story. I have a lot of books of old graphics like comics and advertising.

Your Bells deck courts are not happy drinkers. Are they advertising a way to drown your worries?

Edit: found an image of the Upside-Downs. The second one shows the same image rotated 180.

updownsfairypalace1.gif (58.3 KiB) Viewed 11037 times

updownsfairypalace2.gif (58.24 KiB) Viewed 11037 times

[Jock1971]

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[dazzleguts]

I love seeing experimentation with card faces like this and would probably pick up this deck if it crossed my immediate path, but, much as I like the art decks, I think they should be more cohesive.

Perhaps if there was red used in the spades suit, like it is throughout the rest, or used only in the red suits, then it would jibe more. The diamonds are too bold and graphic compared to the more sketchy looks of the rest. A common method of showing the indices would help too.

In vintage decks the Jeu de Marseille and Rixdorfer work very well, despite multiple artists contributing, because they were part of strong art movements at the time - giving them a shared visual language. Also they either all stuck to the same medium (Rixdorfer), or had one artist convert everyone else's sketches into the graphics used (Marseille).

Jeu de Marseille: http://www.wopc.co.uk/france/grimaud/le ... eille.html

Rixdorfer: http://www.endebrock.de/coll/pages/d2015.html

[Jock1971]

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[dazzleguts]

I like the solidity of the owl joker. It's better than the more tentative feel of the court cards. Nice details in the pip cards, and I like the way the forest scene back can be read from either end. It's not mirrored but it's not really one-way either.

If I spot a Rixdorfer I'll let you know. It's pretty bizarre and doesn't seem as sought after as the more conventional vintage decks, so the price can be reasonable. Peter Endebrock has quite a collection - a little dangerous to see if you're trying to keep your white whale list short.

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[dazzleguts]

Hello Jase. Here is the story of the fall of Dondorf.
There were actually 28 seperate colour printings to complete the faces and backs of this 1933 deck!
I remembered 12 but that was only for the backs.

The Deck That Broke A Card Factory's Back
With few exceptions, manufacturers of playing cards have been and are in the business for profit. Few have been collectors, and far too few have been imbued with deep idealism. A notable exception was the famous Dondorf family of Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany.

The Dondorf firm was founded in 1833, and in the 100 years of its existence produced possibly the finest playing cards ever manufactured. Any collector who has Dondorf cards in his or her collection can attest to their beauty and infinite variety.

On the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the firm in 1933, it was decided to mark the centennial by issuing a special deck to be presented as a souvenir honoring guests attending the ceremonies. These decks were not offered for sale on the German or any other market. The project was so lavish, the printing so complicated, and the costs so exorbitant, the firm never recovered. Instead it was forced into bankruptcy and was acquired by the Altenburger-Stralsunder Playing Card co. of Altenburg, Thuringia, now of Stuttgart, West Germany. Some 16 separate color printings were required for the court-cards, and 12 color printings for the backs of this unusual deck. A total of 28 separate color printings! Surely the pinnacle in the printing of playing cards was reached in this idealistic and ill-fated venture.

The deck is German in character throughout. While no definite personalities are depicted, one can see in the Kings the founders and rulers of old Germania. The Queens are all of noble mien, full of virtue and good works, pious and given to the gentle arts. The Jacks depict knights in various activities. The original backs show a page-boy and a Coat-of-Arms against a background of the Wartburg Castle. This Castle is connected in German history with Saint Elisabeth, Dr. Martin Luther, Walter von der Vogelweide, Wolfram von Escenbach, and Richard Wagner. In the background of each court-card may be seen figures reminiscent of German industry and handi-craft. These include ship-building and agriculture, the arts, religion, and the military.

It is unfortunate on the one hand that the 1933 anniversary of the firm coincided with an almost universal depression. Given normal times, who knows what other marvelous decks might have been issued by this family, dedicated as it was to the printing of beautiful and unusual cards. On the other hand it is reassuring to know that many of the Dondorf designs are still being printed by the present legal successor, the West German firm of Altenburger-Stralsunder, in Stuttgart. The director, Hans Reisig, is an avid collector and an authority on the history and development of playing cards.

One can imagine circumstances under which a playing card firm might become insolvent by printing inferior cards. This must be an almost isolated instance where a firm went into bankruptcy because of an ideal, and because of its refusal, despite the costs, to produce anything but the very best.


This article is from the web site of the 52 Plus Joker playing card collecting club.
From their publication "Clear The Decks" Volume XI, Number 3 - September 1997
The article first appeared in Hobbies magazine in 1960 and was written by Fred Taylor, an ardent collector, scholar and writer on a wide variety of playing card subjects.

*This deck can be found in the Fournier Catalogue: vol 1, pages 194/195, # 258 of Germanic Countries

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[dazzleguts]

Thanks for the information Dazzelguts, you`re truly awesome.

I've added PJ Madsen to the resources section of Worldwide. I don't think there is another good visual showing of the ASS deck anywhere else on the web.

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