Centaurus
Centaurus: karty igral’nye suvenirnye, Russia, 2005.
Centaurus was produced by Printissa, St. Petersburg, in 2005. Although not mentioned anywhere on either the cards or the box, this pack is a copy of the pack ‘Centaur’ printed by S. D. Modiano for the Austrian Lloyd Steamship Company of Trieste in c.1895.
However, the aces and jokers do not have the original maritime references, and the shipping line is not recorded on the backs. In this Russian copy the court cards are more finely drawn than the original, but the aces are similar (though not identical) to the Modiano patience pack, as too is the joker – though named “THE FUNNY JOKER” (as in the original pack). See the box►
Above: ‘Centaurus’ produced by Printissa, St. Petersburg, 2005. 52 cards + 2 jokers in box.
By Peter Burnett
United Kingdom • Member since July 27, 2022 • Contact
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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