I'm having a little trouble finding this information.  I am trying to find an on-demand card-printing service that doesn't produce their cards in China.  Taiwan is okay, Hong Kong is not.

Thanks for your assistance.

I just returned from a visit to the Dallas Museum of Art.  The DMA recently (a few years ago) became the new host site for the Keir Collection.  The Keir Collection (named for the building where it used to be hosted) was acquired over the course of many years by Edmund de Unger.  The DMA has devoted one small gallery to the exhibition of some of the more durable objects in the collection.  Not on display are four fragments of paper that might be playing cards.  The owners of the collection and the curator at the DMA granted me permission to view the fragments.

I'll start by telling you that I'm not allowed to share the photographs I took.  Sorry.  I'm working on putting together a PDF with my observations and sketches.  The examination took place in a rather dimly lit room and I wasn't allowed to use flash photography.  The fragments have been rather cleverly mounted on archival paper sandwiched between two sheets of frameboard (the thick, stiff material used to matte items for framing) in which a window has been cut.  The clever bit is that two of the fragments have markings on the back and cutting away most of the archival paper allows this to be viewed.

The first fragment is the familiar de Unger fragment which is frequently mentioned in connection with the Topkapi playing cards.  Viewing it in person allowed me to see traces of the colors.  I'll save a detailed description for later but I'll tell you this card had a red border and made use of gold leaf or metallic gold ink/paint (probably the latter).  The fragment appears to be of two sheets of paper and I found this surprising as I expected it to be thicker.

The second fragment is an ace of cups.  At full size it was probably very close to the size of the Topkapi cards.  It made extensive use of red, probably a non-organic red like cinnabar, and what looks like an organic yellow and, possibly, an organic red/pink.  If found the red to be very similar to the middle eastern playing card in the Benaki Museum in Athens.

The third fragment was completely unexpected.  It's actually two fragments and I suspect the fragments are from two different cards of the same deck.  The larger fragment is at least a three (possibly a four) of coins that are striking similar (but clearly different) in design to the Topkapi cards.  At full size the larger fragment would be very close in size to the Topkapi cards.  The smaller fragment is of a suit that's not really possible to determine.  If I had to guess I'd say swords, but that's a pretty wild guess.  It has the typical arched top of the Islamic-style decks and there's a rectangular square above it that had gold ink/paint in it.

The fourth fragment shares some design similarities with other Islamic cards but I don't believe it's actually a playing card.  If it is, it's completely outside my experience.

The first two cards are dated to the 13th Century.  So, in addition to being part of the extremely small corpus of early middle eastern playing cards they are perhaps the oldest surviving playing cards in the world.  I feel very fortunate to have been able to see these in person and am very grateful to the curators at the DMA (who worked with me for two years) and the de Unger family (who gave me permission to view the cards).  As soon as I have my observations and sketches put together I'll let y'all know.

Anyone know how the uncut sheets from Make Playing Cards are laid out in relation to the order the cards are entered using their interface?  I have some specific ideas about how I want the cards to appear but haven't been able to determine how that's going to work and haven't heard back from them on my inquiries yet.

Thank you.

I've been trying to gather more information about the thickness of early playing cards.  This is a crucial question when attempting to re-create early playing cards so I've gone to some effort.  I have contacted multiple museums and conservators and been fortunate enough to have some responses.  The Beinecke Library, in particular, was exceedingly helpful.  I am still in awe of the amount of work they did in response to my request.  Most of my requests are still outstanding but I hope to receive more responses this month.

The summary is: Playing cards were constructed of a smooth, white paper made from hemp and linen.  In early playing cards this paper was between 0.17mm-0.24mm thick with 0.19mm-0.22mm being the most common range.  This equates to a paper weight of approximately 199gsm (plus or minus a few grams).  Cards were constructed of multiple layers of cards, in most cases, which gives weights of 400gsm to 800gsm.  With modern cards being produced in a range of 290gsm to 320gsm you can see that early playing cards were much thicker.  As time went on card makers became more sophisticated and began producing cardstock using a thick (0.22mm to 0.26mm) paper for the core and thin paper (0.11mm) for the face and back.

An interesting note on this research is generated by the Morisca Cards held by the Fournier Museum.  This museum deserves some credit as they are, so far as I am aware, the first to take a thickness measurement of cards in their holdings and publish those measurements.  And those measurements are interesting because they reveal the Morisca cards are, at their thickest, 0.18mm thick.  This is, of course, nicely within the range of of other measurements.  What's interesting is that the Morisca Cards appear to have survived as cards rather than as portions of a binding.  That might indicate the Morisca cards were made from a single sheet of paper rather than from two or more sheets.  The provenance of this deck is unclear and I've written the museum requesting more information but have not, as yet, heard back.

I'll add more information as it becomes available.

Does anyone know anything about this collection?  I found a couple of references to this collection being displayed, on loan, at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1948.  Mrs. Nitze donated about 14 drawings/prints to the Institute in 1947 but I can't find any record of her donating the cards to them.  The collection was said to span the 15th to 19th centuries and included examples from Europe, Asia, and North America.

  This image is a 15th Century printers sheet of a deck of cards sometimes referred to as the 'Censored Deck' on the supposition that the missing court figures were deliberately removed to censor them.  This sheet, the only evidence of this deck, was held by magnate and collector of old documents Mr. Alvin W. Krech.  This sheet was document by W.L. Schreiber in Die Altesten Spielkarten in 1936-ish.  That's the last this sheet was heard of.  I've tried the museums and collections in New York and haven't found any evidence of this.  Some of the Krech collection was broken up for sale but I can't find a record of this sheet being sold.  Some of the Krech collection went to the New York Public Library but I haven't found it there.  There was a Schreiber (female, possibly a descendant of W.L Schreiber?) who made a substantial donation to the Cary Collection at Yale but I haven't found the sheet there either.

I suspect this sheet made its way into a private collection and I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about where it might be?

Thanks.

In 1937 W. Schreiber published a catalog of 14th and 15th Century playing cards.  The book was republished in 1968.  Among the cards featured was a deck from around 1470.  This deck was in the collection of Mr. Alvin W. Krech and consisted of a single sheet that contained the entire deck.  The deck is in the suits of hearts, leaves, bells, and acorns.  These are standard suits for central Europe.  The courts are unusual in that there are four court cards: a mounted king (male), a seated queen (female), and an ober (over) and unter (under) of each suit.  Normally there would be three court cards and they are predominantly male.  They are also, typically clothed.  Nudity is not unknown and has a long, long tradition in playing cards but the nudity of some of the figures is part of what sets this deck apart.  You can see the sheet below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B15SAMYZtejMb1hpZVVvRUNJa2s/view?usp=sharing
Photo taken from Schweizer Spielkarten by Mr. Detlef Hoffman.

Shortly after the sheet was cataloged by Mr. Schreiber it was lost.  I've been trying to track it down without any success.  The odds are the sheet was sold to another private collector when the Krech family was apparently liquidating assets shortly before WWII.  You'll note the deck has no 10s or aces.  The lack of aces is pretty standard.  In German and Swiss decks of the time the two or the ten frequently took over the functions of the ace.  Tens, however, are pretty standard in German/Swiss decks and it's unusual to find a deck without them.  Was there a second sheet to this deck?  Probably not, but I can't rule out the possibility.  In any case it's just another of the little details that sets this deck apart.

In 2005, or thereabouts, Mr. Jorge Kelman of The Guild of Saynt Luke undertook to recreate this deck using the techniques of the period.  He handcarved wood plates, manufactured his own paper, made his own pigments, and produced a limited run of these cards.  Each deck was handmade from start to finish.  You can see one of his decks for sale here:

http://www.spielkartenonline-shop.de/en/non-standard-e-k/2106-guild-of-saynt-luke-wk-14553.html
European re-seller of collector playing cards.

In 2014 I was talking with Mr. Kelman, who was kind enough to address my fumbling efforts to re-create card decks, and he sent me an old proof sheet done with a different paper and different pigments.  It had the entire courts and most of the twos.  For me this was an amazing gift.  Printer's cast-offs are the primary source of information about early decks and having one of my own, even a modern one... That print is framed and on the wall of my bedroom.  I had the opportunity to buy one of Mr. Kelman's decks and, because of financial constraints, passed it up.  I'm currently trying to convince my wife I need to buy the one for sale above.

But because I take printer's cast-offs and attempt to re-create decks from them, I gave it a shot with the sheet that Mr. Kelman had sent me.  You can see my efforts below.  I'm not selling these decks, I'm just sharing this.  I made a copy on modern cardstock for myself and another to send to Mr. Kelman and that's all.


Image on Facebook of my copy of Mr. Kelman's work.

I used the arrangement provided by the original proof sheet.  I used Mr. Kelman's artwork in all cases but I know my arrangements of the pip cards differ from his.  I kept the original color of the paper he was experimenting with but, as you can readily see, his finished product was done on a paper which was much lighter in color.  Papers of the time were sized and smoothed with a mixture of starch and chalk and even a mass produced product like playing cards was probably printed on relatively smooth paper.

This is a really nice deck and I'm glad to have even a cheap reproduction of an excellent reproduction to play with.

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Our cards are based on medieval/renaissance designs.  They are printed by Printer's Studio on modern, slick, playing cardstock with rounded corners.  Please check the deck size you are ordering as some of the decks are quite small (mini-size) and others are quite large (tarot size); we tried to be as close to the original size as possible.

Our shop can be found here.

Examples include:

The 16th Century Jean Hemau Deck.  M. Hemau was a 16th-17th Century printer specializing in playing cards.  We have used his courts and added the appropriate pip cards.  We are fortunate enough to know what his card backs looked like because his deck is featured in an early 17th Century still-life painting.


The Fougere Royale (Royal Palm).  This deck dates to the 15th-16th Century and it has been recreated here by cardmaker Lady Heather Hall (you might not have heard of her yet, but you will).


The plain Topkapi Deck.  This simplified, black and white, deck is based on the 16th Century Topkapi cards and the 13th Century de Unger card fragment in the Keir Collection.  It is an Islamic-style deck featuring the suits of cups, coins, swords, and polo-sticks printed on a large, tarot-size deck.


Our generic German/Swiss deck.  This deck is based on examples from the 15th to the 18th Centuries.  It is a mini-size deck because the original cards were quite small.  This deck features twelve suits, that makes it three complete decks, including: hearts, leaves, acorns, bells, roses, and more.

This is a nice resource for all you Francophile card lovers.  These two volumes are chock-a-block with illustrations of French playing cards from the 14th Century (although I've only found 15th Century cards in them) to the 20th Century.  It's like having a little museum on your computer.

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2676956;view=1up;seq=9

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2676955;view=1up;seq=11

Does anyone know what happened to the collection that made up the USPCC museum?

Kind of a long shot, but does anyone know of any playing card distributors in the Middle East?  Specifically Lebanon, Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, Qatar.

I have some playing cards I think would be very well received there and would like to talk to a distributor.

Thanks.

This deck isn't based on an existing deck, rather it uses elements from a 14th Century document.  It's designed to be a mini-deck right now but I'm looking at making it a poker deck.  The design for the backs of the cards is taken straight from the document.


The border on the faces of the cards is also taken straight from the manuscript.  I'm changing the red interior border to match the red on the backs of the cards.


I've also, since I made these test images, darkened the 'parchment' background on the faces to more closely reflect the current state of the document.  It also makes the colors pop a little better.  The early decks didn't have queens, particularly the German and Swiss decks, but since Printer's Studio mini-decks have so many extra cards in the standard order I decided to put in four courts: King, Queen, Knight (mounted on a horse), and Knave/Page (man on foot).  The players can customize their deck and decide which cards to leave out (German/Swiss decks didn't have aces either, just for example).


I also had a wide variety of possible suits to choose from.  Since print-on-demand offers that sort of flexibility I'm making six: cups, roses, leaves, swords, hawks, and crowns.  All can be documented in the 15th Century in Germany and Switzerland.  I'll let the customer choose which four suits he wants his deck to contain.