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Transsiberian Express, artwork by Veronika Nicolaeva, 2015. Our friend Räpylätassu notes these were printed in Finland and made in honor of the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Moscow-Vladivostok railroad track. There are two versions, English and Russian, 300 packs each. This is the English version. The Russian version has a different Joker, the box and extra cards are in Russian. The back design shows the rare Amur Leopard, national symbol of Siberia. You can see cards from the Russian version on UC in this thread .

I keep trying to find this one at an affordable price but I may have to accept that's not possible. Thanks for sharing!!

c1880-1900(?), 11 and 12 spot playing cards, United States Playing Card Company. 11, 12, and later 13 (red suit only) spot cards were added to a deck to allow a game of six-handed 500. Normally USPCC sold "500" packs with all the necessary cards included but the cards shown here are housed in their own sealed wrapper. It's unclear if this packet was included inside of a preexisting pack or sold separately. It does have its own seal and stamp.

The back on these cards is the same painting as one of the two backs that appear on USPCC's rare Norwood 85 decks - same painting, different frame - you couldn't confuse the two. (I think the number of known Norwood 85s is currently at 10).

https://www.wopc.co.uk/usa/the-united-s ... any/no-500

Update: USPCC moved to Cincinnati in April 1900, in light of the stamp on the wrapper, that dates these 1900 or later.

Dondorf, L'Hombre No.60. c1910-1930(?). This deck c1920.
One of the four decks of cards Dondorf produced for Adolph Wulff. This was simpler in design and production, with Danish index marks. "Eneret" translates to "Exclusive," presumably for Adolph Wulff (Joop interprets this as "Copyright"). Unlike the cards Dondorf made for Voigt in Copenhagen, "Dondorf" does not appear on these cards. Wulff's name instead appears on the JS (Kn). L'Hombre is a seventeenth-century card game which is still played in Denmark. There is an earlier version with much smaller index marks.

I know that cards do not have to have index marks but "much smaller index marks" than these would require a magnifying glass!

Dondorf, Poker Spielkarten, No 191 (Braun #V1Aa). 1900-1906(?). "International" image cards. Dondorf introduced this series in 1889, and continued until 1933.

La Traviata, 1985, by Erté (Romain de Tirtoff, 1892-1990), commissioned by Dunhill of London, often attributed to Carte Mundi, probably printed by A.S.S. (s. Roddy Somerville, WOPC). As explained in the leaflet, the opera plays out across all of the cards.

Harry Margary's 1978 reproduction of The Beggar's Opera playing cards, first published in 1728 by John Bowles, following the successful premier of the opera the same year. These cards (the originals) stayed in production through the 1700s, as the play proved very popular, though not many survive. In 2005 Christie's auctioned an original pack for 2,880 GBP (roughly 5250 GBP today, or $6600 USD). Yale University has one. In 1928 The Beggar's Opera was adapted into the German production The Threepenny Opera, which in turn gave rise to versions of the song Mack the Knife by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Bobby Darin. One in a series of several reproductions of antique cards by Margary.

Thanks Ato5, most interesting. I wonder whether the $6,600 purchaser was foremost a music buff or a card collector?

I wonder if the one that was sold in 2005 was the same one mentioned in the Yale link that sold in 2023 and belonged to Joseph Dudley Ollis, a prominent collector of many things, including playing cards. He unfortunately passed away in 2012 and his collection continues to be auctioned off to this day, likely by his family.

Or... the one from 2005 is a completely different set in which case, you still pose a very curious question Honeybee.

My piano teaching ex would love a deck like this if I could find her one. This and the Dondorf one with musical notes are astounding. Doesn't seem like there's a fascimile of the latter sadly.

Edit: okay wow, that 2023 auction ended at £10,500

If I'm remembering correctly, the cards in the Yale library are the ones from the Christie auction. I didn't see the Dominic Winter auction - thanks for catching that. It sure looks like Ollis was the winning Christie's bidder, but possible there was another sale before Ollis got it.

Do you mean a facsimile of the Dondorf cards? Yes, there is. https://www.rubylane.com/item/404269-T0 ... ards?gQT=1 sold as Lo Scarabeo “Strauss” playing cards.

I looked them up. The KC from the decks in question. It looks like Yale is re-using the photo from the Dominic Auction, probably supplied by Ollis. Ollis mounted his decks the same way. These were made by Carington Bowles, John's son. Bowles printed other decks with music and songs - easily identifiable as they were all made in the same style (the British Museum has some). Margary's reproduction is the only one I know of. More of Margary's cards can be seen on his website here.

My Mom had lots of musical theater albums that I grew up listening to. I always liked The Threepenny Opera a lot, though I daresay it was a bit too mature in theme for me to have discovered so young!

Java Speelkaarten (Fijnste Omber Speelkaarten), No 17. First printed in 1874 by Dondorf on behalf of Gumbrich & Strauss in Batavia (now Djakarta), in chromolithography, marking Wilhelm III's 25th anniversary as King of the Netherlands. This version is Variant 5, 1910-1920. Kings and Queens are royalty in King Wilhelm's court. V5 (and V6, the last) features Queen Emma as the QH, replacing Queen Sophie, Wilhelm's first wife, following Sophie's passing in 1877. The Jacks represent Dutch soldiers. Aces show scenics of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). On the back of the box is the coat of arms of the Netherlands with the signature "JE MAINTIENDRAI," "I will preserve." You can see older versions: jasonx73it, dxpo, WOPC.

Die Vogel-Welt (The Bird World) Educational Quartet Game, No. 351, printed by Dondorf, c1905 (-1920s?). This version in Danish. 10 groups of 4 related cards. In German WOPC. The scans of the cards below are 2048x so that you can see the detail and color in the chromolithography.
- --
Spurvefugle (Passerines, perching birds), Rovfugle (Birds of Prey) --
Hjejlefugle (Plovers), Tranefugle (Cranes) --
Gaasefugle (Geese), Hønsefugle (Gallinaceous birds, ground-feeding landfowl) --
Strudsfugle (Ostriches), Storkefugle (Storks) --
Klatrefugle (Climbing birds), Rovfugle (Birds of Prey)

Russian Historical playing cards, by Nikolay Karazin. Reproduction by Russian Card Society, 2015. First published in 1897 in Saint Petersburg, with a second edition in 1898 (changes made to the JS, the JC, and KH). I scanned the reproductions side by side with some of the originals (you can see all of them on page 1 of this thread). When Joop Muller posted this deck on his website he received a number of comments concerning the historical accuracy of the costumes. WOPC's page about this deck.

The original chromolithography has so much depth. If I looked at them for too long I would begin to wonder why I collect modern decks