666 Casino - USPCC

[skinny]

I have another mystery deck that just won't google. There's a die-cut hole to show you the backs (which match the printed box anyway). The tongue of the box is pretty big, but not odd-shaped. I love this joker.
I'm surprised to find only English on the box, owing to the VDR and 1s on the cards.

Any info or other examples out there?

[Don Boyer]

I've seen that back before - it was in the Robinson book, because USPC used it on a Bicycle deck.  It's #78 in her book, called "Twig", but it originally came out in 1904 under the name "Coral".  However, it looks like an INVERTED version of the design - instead of a colored background with white twigs, it's blue twigs on a white background.

Beyond that, all I could say is that it's clearly a product intended for Europe.  It was probably printed for sale in the UK and France, but with different tuck boxes for each country - you have the UK version.  It's a French-style deck, specifically a "Parisian" deck as opposed to a "Rouen" deck - longer cards, slight difference in the pips, indices have French-name letters (R for Roi/King, D for Dame/Queen, V for Valet/Jack).

[Worst Bower]

I think it's for export to Belgium, the Balkans, North Africa, or the Middle East.

Don is right that they are Parisian faces, but there are two slight differences. In France, they use blue instead of green and put names of who they are suppose to represent in the corners.

The Ottoman Empire used to strictly ban playing cards for religious reasons. As their empire was crumbling in the late 1800s, the rules were relaxed. The French were the first to jump in and introduce cards to the region. To differentiate domestic cards (which were subject to taxes) from export, they changed to the blue to green and dropped the names.

Belgian manufacturers (including the predecessors of Cartamundi) and Hungarians were also exporters to those regions. I came across a similar deck in Budapest. It is used to play double pinochle which is popular among Turks and Kurds.

Examples:
http://www.wopc.co.uk/hungary/artex/artex-for-turkey
http://www.wopc.co.uk/hungary/artex/artex-quadrilato-for-tunisia

[skinny]

Perfect info, thank you!

I did try to find a region or culture where 6 or 666 were lucky numbers, but I found nothing.

[Worst Bower]

How many jokers are there? My double pinochle deck also has a hole in the box. It originally exposed the ace of clubs.

[skinny]

This 666 deck has a single "Ye Joker," complete with goat skull. 

[Don Boyer]

How many jokers are there? My double pinochle deck also has a hole in the box. It originally exposed the ace of clubs.

Out of curiosity, did the Ace of Clubs have any additional markings?  I know that the English started making elaborate Aces of Spades when they were used as a symbol indicating the payment of duty on the deck to the Crown, and that in Spain a similar tradition of a tax mark converted to a maker's mark exists for the four of clubs.  I considered it possible that the Ace of Clubs in this case served the same purpose, perhaps helping to identify the country of sale if not the country of origin.  American-made decks sold in Argentina were stamped by the Argentinian government AFTER being printed and imported to indicate tax payment.

[skinny]

Plain aces (1s) here.

[Worst Bower]

How many jokers are there? My double pinochle deck also has a hole in the box. It originally exposed the ace of clubs.

Out of curiosity, did the Ace of Clubs have any additional markings?

Plain aces (1s) here.

Just came back from a trip. I know that the French mark their ace of clubs but my deck had no special marks. All aces are plain small pips.

Having only one joker (assuming the other hasn't gone missing) may date it to before 1950s.