Modern Aces of Spades
Many modern aces of spades are anonymous so that, in the absence of any other information, the collector has difficulty deciding who made them.
Above: aces of spades usually carry the manufacturer's name.
On English packs the design and wording on the ace of spades will tell you the maker’s name and, until 1862, the amount of tax paid. Taxation on playing cards was a form of protectionism and a means of raising revenues for the Exchequer, but ultimately the amount received from playing card duty was less than the cost of administering the tax. In his budget speech on 4th April 1960 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the decision to abolish the excise duty on playing cards in the UK. After this time the ace of spades remained a maker’s identification device with a more elaborate design than the other three aces, but no longer represented any tax or duty paid to the treasury.
For History of the Ace of Spades, see
American manufacturers have also tended to follow the English tradition of an elaborate ace of spades as a trade mark or manufacturer’s badge.
However, some makers produce custom packs for third parties, either as promotional items (eg: Haig whisky, Simpsons etc) or on behalf of other companies (Wills Cigarettes, Dubreq etc) and the ace of spades may or may not be informative. Some generic designs are copied and used by various makers, hence duplicate images assigned to different makers. Some makers have been taken over or otherwise ceased trading only for their designs to be adopted by other companies.
Consequently a large number of modern aces of spades are anonymous so that, in the absence of any other information, the collector has difficulty deciding who made it. In addition, Chinese card factories were all formerly owned by the state, and as such packs did not carry a maker's name, simply 'China'.
Above: Butterfly 102 brand, made in China
Above: Tiger 2004 brand, made in China
Above: Butterfly 202 brand, made in China
Above: Elephant 505 brand, based on Waddington's ace of spades but made in China
Above: China
Above: China
Above: China
Above: China
Above: China
Above: China
Above: China
Above: Giraffe 800 brand, China
Above: China
Above: China
Above: Alf Cooke (UK)
Above: Alf Cooke (UK)
Above: China
.jpg "altenburger-stralsunder-(2)")
Above: Altenburger Stralsunder (Germany)
Above: Altenburger Stralsunder (Germany)
Above: China
Above: Artex (Hungary)
Above: Astra Games (UK) 1982-87
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Above: Russia
Above: OTK (Czech) for Bancroft & Partners Ltd (UK)
.jpg "berliner-spielkarten-(2)")
Above: Berliner Spielkarten (Germany)
Above: Berliner Spielkarten (Germany)
Above: Léonard Biermans, Belgium
Above:
Above: probably China
Above: USPCC
Above: Brown & Bigelow (USA)
Above:
.jpg "cardinal-(2)")
Above: China
Above: China
.jpg "carta-mundi-(2)")
Above: Carta Mundi (Belgium)
.jpg "carta-mundi-(3)")
Above: Carta Mundi based on origianl by Biermans
.jpg "carta-mundi-(4)")
Above: Carta Mundi (Belgium)
.jpg "carta-mundi-(5)")
Above: Carta Mundi (Belgium)
.jpg "carta-mundi-(6)")
Above: Carta Mundi (Belgium)
Above: Carta Mundi (Belgium)
Above: Catel & Farcy (France)
Above: Hong Kong / China
Above: China
Above: China
.jpg "club-(2)")
Above:
Above: China
.jpg "coeur-(2)")
Above: Originally Scharff > VASS, then ASS (East Germany), then Ravensburger after reunification
.jpg "coeur-(3)")
Above:
.jpg "coeur-(4)")
Above: Originally Scharff > VASS, then ASS (East Germany), then Ravensburger after reunification
Above:
.jpg "custom-playing-cards-(usa)")
Above:
Above: Dal Negro (Italy)
Above: Revelation Playing Cards (USA)
Above: B. Dondorf (Germany)
Above: La Ducale (France)
.jpg "elephant-(2)")
Above: China
Above: China
Above: Hong Kong/China
.jpg "emu-series-(2)")
Above: China
Above: China
Above: Faustino Solesio (Italy)
Above: China
Above: China
.jpg "fx-schmid-(2)")
Above: F.X. Schmid (Germany)
Above: F.X. Schmid (Germany)
Above: China
Above: Japanese.
Above: Hong Kong/China
Above: China
.jpg "goodall-(2)")
Above: Goodall & Son (UK)
Above: Goodall & Son (UK)
Above:
Above: Grimaud (France)
Above:
Above:
Above: Hong Kong/China
.jpg "halsall-(2)")
Above:
Above:
Above: Hearts Playing Cards (NL)
Above:
Above:
Above: Heraclio Fournier (Spain)
Above: Heron (France)
Above: House of Marbles
Above:
Above:
Above: Brickwoods, The Portsmouth Brewery, c.1960-70
Above:
.jpg "john-hinde-(2)")
Above:
.jpg "john-hinde-(3)")
Above:
Above:
Above:
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Above: King Arthur’s Knights playing cards designed by Mauri Kunnas, Finland
Above:
Above: La Turnhoutoise (Belgium)
Above: Legends P.C.Co
Above:
Above: China
Above: China
Above:
Above:
Above: Mardon, Son & Hall (UK)
Above:
Above: Metro (India)
Above: OTK, Czechoslovakia
Above: Paulson (USA)
Above:
Above:
.jpg "piatnik-(2)")
Above: Piatnik (Austria)
.jpg "piatnik-(3)")
Above: Piatnik (Austria)
.jpg "piatnik-(4)")
Above: Piatnik (Austria)
.jpg "piatnik-(5)")
Above: Piatnik (Austria)
Above: Piatnik (Austria)
-sdn-(malaysia).jpg "playing-cards-(m)-sdn-(malaysia)")
Above: Malaysia
.jpg "pms-international-(2)")
Above:
Above: China
Above: China
.jpg "red-n-blue-(india)")
Above:
Above: Richard Edward (UK)
Above: Ritter/OTK (Czech)
.jpg "robert-frederick-(2)")
Above:
Above:
Above:
Above: Shamrock Gift Co (Made in China)
Above: Shamrock Gift Co (Made in China)
Above: China
Above: China
Above: Smiley World
Above: Spears Games
Above:
.jpg "Spicers Paper Ltd (Australia)")
Above: Spicers Paper Ltd (Australia)
Above: Spicers Paper Ltd (Australia)
Above: Germany
Above:
.jpg "tallon-(2)")
Above: China
.jpg "tallon-(3)")
Above:
Above:
.jpg "thomas-de-la-rue-(2)")
Above: De la Rue & Co (UK)
.jpg "thomas-de-la-rue-(3)")
Above: De la Rue & Co (UK)
.jpg "thomas-de-la-rue-(4)")
Above: De la Rue & Co (UK)
.jpg "thomas-de-la-rue-(5)")
Above: De la Rue & Co (UK)
.jpg "thomas-de-la-rue-(6)")
Above: De la Rue & Co (UK)
.jpg "thomas-de-la-rue-(7)")
Above: De la Rue & Co (UK)
.jpg "thomas-de-la-rue-(8)")
Above: De la Rue & Co (UK)
Above: De la Rue & Co (UK)
Above: Danish pack.
Above:
Above:
Above:
.jpg "uspcc-(2)")
Above: USPCC
.jpg "“Cultúrlán” Celtic myth playing cards")
Above: “Cultúrlán” Celtic myth playing cards, USPCC
.jpg "uspcc-(4)")
Above: USPCC
.jpg "uspcc-(5)")
Above: USPCC
.jpg "uspcc-(6)")
Above: USPCC
.jpg "uspcc-(7)")
Above: USPCC
.jpg "uspcc-(8)")
Above: USPCC
Above: USPCC
Above: Van Genechten (Belgium)
Above: Veekay
.jpg "waddingtons-(2)")
Above: Waddington's (UK)
.jpg "The Simpsons playing cards by Winning Moves Games")
Above: The Simpsons published by Winning Moves Games, made by Waddington's (UK)
.jpg "waddingtons-(4)")
Above: Waddington's (UK)
.jpg "waddingtons-(5)")
Above: Waddington's (UK)
Above: Waddington's (UK)
Above: China
By Matt Probert
United Kingdom • Member since March 02, 2012
I have adored playing cards since before I was seven years old, and was brought up on packs of Waddington's No 1. As a child I was fascinated by the pictures of the court cards.
Over the next fifty years I was seduced by the artwork in Piatnik's packs and became a collector of playing cards.
Seeking more information about various unidentified packs I discovered the World of Playing Cards website and became an enthusiastic contributor researching and documenting different packs of cards.
I describe my self as a playing card archaeologist, using detective work to identify and date obscure packs of cards discovered in old houses, flea markets and car boot sales.
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