Unimol playing cards
Advertising pack for a pharmaceutical company, with brightly coloured courts.
Unimol is a type of paracetamol. Pills, however, are not in evidence here. Instead, the court cards are very much in the non-violent Flower Power style of the late 1960s. The court card designs are the same in each suit, except that different colouring has been used in the red suits versus the black suits. There is text (captions) in Japanese on all the Aces and pip cards. The pips themselves are arranged in a non-standard layout from the 10s down to the 4s. On the backs are yellow and blue pansies within a gold frame on a white background.
Above: ‘Unimol’ playing cards made by Nintendo PC Co. Ltd, Kyoto, Japan, 1970. 52 cards + 2 (identical) Jokers in plastic box. Size: 57 x 87 mm.
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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