Kunigaikščiai (‘Dukes’)
Kunigaikščiai (‘Dukes’) playing cards published by Spindulys Printing Co., Kaunas, Lithuania during the period c.1920-1940, depicting double-ended portraits of Grand Dukes of Lithuania with consorts and attendants. This deck was printed in two editions, as you can see according to the different aces. First issue (lower image) about 1920, the second about 1930. The Aces are embellished with line decorations. The King of Clubs depicts Vytautas the Great, revered as a national hero and an important figure in the national rebirth in the 19th century.
Above: Kunigaikščiai ('Dukes') playing cards printed by offset by by Spindulys Printing Co., Kaunas, Lithuania during the period c.1920-1940. 52 cards + Joker. Images by kind permission Albinas Borisevičius.
By Simon Wintle
Member since February 01, 1996
View ArticlesCurator 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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