3: 20TH/21ST CENTURY VARIANTS INCLUDING SOME FROM CHINA [REVISED 4.11.14]

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CHINA

I expect most collectors ignore cards made in China for export.   It's true that many of them are close copies of American models, but there are also some interesting, even peculiar, redrawings of the standard English pattern.   And the quality of the cards themselves has improved a great deal in recent years.   So here is a selection of my most recent finds.

C1.2 is a redrawn version of C1.1 with both four-colour and three-colour versions.   It has been oddly elongated.

US3.1 (bridge size) has long been a favourite for foreign makers to copy, either unturned or turned.   A recent (turned) one has basically the same designs for the clothing, but the faces have been redesigned in the style of those of Fournier.   They are imported into the UK by John Lewis.

There are numerous copies of Whitman's courts (US5.1), especially in very cheap packs, but again a recent version has been produced for Emirate Airlines.   The QC has been redesigned.

A much odder version has been produced with retro backs, sold in a tin.   The queens all wear odd head-dresses that make them look like samurai warriors!

Finally, the Arrco courts (US9) have been redesigned for a pack with a 3D readable back, also sold in a tin.

And there is a wide-size version on four colours, sold in the local Co-op supermarkets.

Now who says Chinese cards are boring?!

ELSEWHERE
Here are some recent versions of the standard English pattern by makers not well known to me.

Tactic cards from Finland.   The courts are a copy of Piatnik's.

The top row below is by SNP, Australia.   This is a wide-size version of the one illustrated in my book on page 321, incorrectly labelled Dealer's Choice.   The pack is actually called Player's Choice.

The lower one (bottom two rows) is rather unusual.   It's made in China for Caroline Gardner, who seems to be a fabric designer or something similar.   The courts are based on CUS7 (the Chinese copy of USPCC/NYCC's courts used in modern poker packs) and have fabric designs added to the clothes, the same one for the courts of one suit.   The QD is actually a duplicate of the QH with clothing differences.   There is a special joker.   The double box was bought at the Royal Horticultural Society's shop at Wisley.

Global Trade, Germany, redesigned courts, current:

A new design from Thailand.   It has echoes of Chinese designs, e.g. the hairstyles of the kings, the open hand of the KD, but no particular model that it's a copy of.

Thai Playing Card Factory, 2010

For copies of Goodall's design from Thailand, see page 22 of the blog.   For more on Thai cards, see

http://www.wopc.co.uk/thailand/playing-cards-factory.html

There is a Swedish firm called MirrorCard who produce a pack with three redrawn courts from a Chinese version of Whitman's courts (KC/QH/JD):  the same for each suit with different suit signs on the clothing.

A recent acquisition has shown me a connection between two other packs I had and hadn't realized that they were basically the same design.   The oldest example is illustrated on page 35, a poker pack called Lexington by Angel of Japan, with all the suit signs on the right.

Angel, c.1960

The recent acquisition is another poker pack by Angel from 2004, but all the courts are turned back again with the suit signs on the left.

Aristo Club by Angel, 2004

The design is coloured differently, but the outline is the same.   Note, in particular, the odd attribute held by the JS, and the blank top to the KC's orb with a small antenna on it!   I then realized that another pack I had for Thai Airlines, this time in bridge format, is a squashed-up version of the Aristo courts, though it's earlier and has a Hong Kong AS.   Note the JS's attribute again.

Anonymous with Hong Kong AS, c.2000

What the relationship between card manufacture in Hong Kong, China and Japan is, I don't know, but I have other examples of their using the same designs.   It may simply be a matter of copying by scanning.

If it's oddities you like, here's a weird version of the English pattern with a number of the courts mixed up.

Games & Print Services, c.1995

The JC is basically the JH, KD = KC, KC = KH, and there are non-traditional figures such as the right-facing, profile KH.   The firm seems to have had some connection with Richard Edward in the early days, as the joker is the same in both makers' packs at this time.   These courts were quickly replaced by the courts used in the EPCS anniversary pack, which were then replaced by the more traditional figures.

See more recent designs on later pages.