ZPA Trutnov
Publicity pack for a Czech company making mains receivers and electrical control units.
ZPA Trutnov was the old name for the Czech company ZPA Smart Energy which nowadays produces smart meters. Back in 1988 it was clearly thought necessary to use glamorous young ladies in a variety of costumes to promote some very unglamorous products, such as mains receivers and electrical control units. Each product is named at the top along with the indices, with the name of the company at the bottom of every card. All 54 cards are different, although only 13 different products are shown. The maker’s logo appears on the Ace of Spades. Note the error on the 10 of Diamonds where the number 10 has been reversed by mistake.
Above: ZPA Trutnov publicity pack made by Obchondí Tiskárny, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1988. 52 cards + 4 Jokers*. Size: 58 x 88 mm.
REFERENCE: Rainald Schaider and Rüdiger Fliess. Eroticism on Playing Cards, Vol. III, 1997, no. 6.4.
By Roddy Somerville
France • Member since May 31, 2022
Roddy started collecting stamps on his 8th birthday. In 1977 he joined the newly formed playing-card department at Stanley Gibbons in London before setting up his own business in Edinburgh four years later. His collecting interests include playing cards, postcards, stamps (especially playing cards on stamps) and sugar wrappers. He is a Past President of the Scottish Philatelic Society, a former Chairman of the IPCS, a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards and Curator of the WCMPC’s collection of playing cards. He lives near Toulouse in France.
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