Tobago playing cards
Tobago playing cards designed by Boriss Mitins, 2004.

This pack of 52 cards and 2 Jokers was published by the Tobago Casino Club (located in the basement of Hotel Riga, Aspazijas Boulevard 22, Riga, Latvia). A reviewer of this casino wrote: “This casino has the characteristics of a Pirate ship, pirate and buccaneer themed decor. The dealers are dressed as pirates”. Not surprisingly therefore the court cards portray named pirates of the Caribbean, artistically designed by Boriss Mitins. The Aces show typical pirate-associated artefacts (cutlasses, playing cards, swords, rope, pirate flag etc.), while the pip cards are standard. See the box►
The pack was published in a limited edition of 1000. The box refers to “2004 series playing cards” which might suggest that the casino produced a different pack each year.



Above: Tobago playing cards published by the Tobago Casino Club, Latvia, 2004. Limited edition of 1000 packs.

By Peter Burnett
Member since July 27, 2022
I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
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