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Playing Card Chat ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ => A Cellar of Fine Vintages => Topic started by: Chuqii on June 30, 2020, 10:48:30 AM
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This one just came in. Napoleon Playing Cards from J.N. Playing Card Company. Box says Manufactured by The Standard Playing Card Co. Standard Bridge Playing Cards No. 333. BUT, there was a slip of paper with Japanese? writing wrapped around the exposed edge of the deck in the slip box. So, is this one of the Japanese decks that claimed to be Standard, or is it actually a Standard deck? All help appreciated.
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This one just came in. Napoleon Playing Cards from J.N. Playing Card Company. Box says Manufactured by The Standard Playing Card Co. Standard Bridge Playing Cards No. 333. BUT, there was a slip of paper with Japanese? writing wrapped around the exposed edge of the deck in the slip box. So, is this one of the Japanese decks that claimed to be Standard, or is it actually a Standard deck? All help appreciated.
Clearly you didn't get the deck while it was still sealed? :))
It's not uncommon for people to find a deck that was placed in a different deck's box, especially vintage decks. Happens all the time. I'm not familiar with the JN Playing Card Company - the only two Japanese manufacturers I know of are Nintendo (yup, the video game company started as a card maker in the mid-19th century and still makes them today) and Angel, out of Osaka, which I think was founded in the 1960s, as their website touts them as being over 50 years old. Could be JN was an older company that either folded or was bought out. It's very unlikely that it was a Standard deck.
It's not easy to find info on JN because of the Jerry's Nugget deck, the modern reprint of which was made available on "JN stock" procured by Expert PCC in some versions as well as standard USPC stocks.
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This deck is in the original box, based upon the card on the back of the box matching the cards in the box.
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Did more poking around. Learned there's a Japanese version of the card game "Napoleon" that's supposed to be wildly popular.
http://catsatcards.com/Games/JapaneseNapoleon.html
Also learned that Nintendo still makes hanafuda cards and that their highest quality model is called President or Napoleon - there's a portrait of Napoleon on the top of the box they come in.
https://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Japanese-Playing-Hanafuda-President/dp/B001FLYYHI
I'm considering the possibility that maybe the "J.N." stands for Japanese Nintendo, though I consider this theory a real long shot. They did make playing cards long before they were in the video game business (started in the mid-late 19th century, like a lot of American companies) and still do today - maybe they partnered with SPCC to make this deck, or maybe they didn't; I just don't know.