Reinholds Kasparsons
Reinholds Kasparsons, a popular Latvian illustrator of the day, designed this pack which was published as The Best Quality Playing cards No.1 in 1932.
Latvian playing cards designed by Reinholds Kasparsons
Above: the tax stamp from the Ace of Hearts.
Above: Reinholds Kasparsons, a popular Latvian illustrator of the day, designed this pack which was published as ‘The Best Quality Playing cards No.1’ in 1932. This was the 3rd pack produced in Latvia. The pack was re-issued during the period of the 1st Russian occupation in 1940/41, with the inscription on the Ace of Hearts replaced by “LPSR” (Latvian Soviet Socialistic Republic).
Left: in the alternative Ace of Hearts, during the period of the 1st Russian occupation in 1940/41, several elements are different: unadorned red cross, different green "wreath", "LPSR", and the tax stamp (different lettering round the red cross) - courtesy Roddy Somerville.
By Simon Wintle
Member since February 01, 1996
Founder and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.
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