Cards and Their Associated Meanings

[RSLancastr]

we also need the knights in your list. i find it interesting the modern list in rank of order of the trumps is not the same order by this monk in 1470.

The order - and even the names - of the trumps has varied quite a bit over the years, sometimes from deck to deck.

[lumpyliew]

Honestly , I only read the first few parts .... It's definitely hard work... Thanks for the informations !

[ibrahimjaber]

Great Topic with a lot of great Information & new things I never knew about
Thanks a lot

[dazzleguts]

Fortune telling is only one of the many secondary uses people have had for playing cards:

http://www.wopc.co.uk/cards/secondary-uses.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Becky C]

I wasn't sure where to ask this question so if I'm in the wrong place I apologize. Can anyone explain "squeezers" to me. I am pretty new to collecting and keep seeing this pop up as I am looking at cards but have not seen exactly what makes them different. Thanks

[dazzleguts]

Hey Becky
Before card makers began placing the numbers and suit signs (indices) in the corners of the cards you had to spread your cards wide in order to count the pips, and to see what courts you had, or, move your cards to the front of your hand one at a time. After indices were introduced it became possible to "squeeze" your cards together and still know what they were. Much easier to keep the value of your hand to yourself since without indices it takes more spread between the cards to fully see pip cards then it does to see the courts. One aspect of the story of indices in the US is illustrated on the back of the "Bulldog Squeezers". You can read more about it here:

http://www.wopc.co.uk/usa/squeezers/squeezers-35.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Becky C]

Thanks

[RSLancastr]

Becky, a bit more:

As Dazzleguts said, playing cards originally had no indices in the corner, making it neccesary to look at the entire face of each card in your hand to know their rank and suit.

In the late 1880s, the idea became popular to make it possible to tell the rank and suit of a card without pulling it out of your hand.

Several competing methods/standards for this improvement vied for popularity with the card-playing public, two of which became the most popular:

In one, called "Triplicates", a tiny image of the entire face of each card was printed in the cards' upper-left and lower-right corners.

In the other, called "Squeezers", just the card's rank (2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K) and suit-sign(Heart, Club, Diamond, Spade) were printed in the upper-left and lower-right corners.

Over time, the "Squeezers" standard became the most widely-accepted (probably because the teensy card image on "Triplicates" was more difficult for those with weak vision to make out), and became the standard we are familiar with today.

Back during the Triplicates/Squeezers battle, even though the term "Squeezers" was trademarked, it became a sort of generic term for any deck which used this method of indices.

Nowadays, it is so much the standard that few people other than collectors know that there is even a name for it, or that cards at one time had no indices at all!

When a playing card collector uses the term "Squeezers" now, they are most probably referring to those old decks with the trademarked term "Squuezers" printed on the box.

[Blake]

This is fantastic! Well organized and very informative. I just finished a book called A History of Playing Cards and a Bibliography of Cards and Gaming and I highly suggest it for anyone interested in more information about the history and what not. I would also suggest Roll the bones if you are interested in the history of Gambling in general ( although it is about 500 pages and some people do not want that much lol)

[dazzleguts]

Hey Blake. You might like "The World of Games" too then. Subtitle: Their Origins and History, How to Play Them, and How to Make Them. It shows and talks about ancient and modern games from around the world. Many are gambling games and there are tons of great pictures.

I have the Hargrave History too. It's a shame USPCC got rid of that collection.

[RSLancastr]

All of my playing card (and Tarot card) reference books are still in boxes out in our garage... <sniff!>

[laitostarr777]

This is a very good explanation for Cartomancy side of playing cards
Great work!