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Trading Mart

Published February 08, 2023 Updated February 08, 2023

‘Trading Mart’ playing cards published by RusJoker, St Petersburg, 2005.

2005 Russia RusJoker Advertising
‘Trading mart’ playng cards published by RusJoker, St Petersburg in 2005

The word “mart” in Russian means the month of March, but like the word “treiding” I suspect it might also be a more recent Anglo-American import into the Russian language meaning “market” or “mart” in which case “Trading mart” or "Market trading" seems a more appropriate title than "March trading".

This 54-card advertising pack, with Russian indices, was published by RusJoker, St Petersburg in 2005, in a limited edition of 250 copies. Each suit sign is embellished with the logo or trademark of one particular Russian manufacturer: the Mikoyan Russian Aircraft Corporation, a major Russian aerospace and defence company (spades); KampoMos, a leading Russian manufacturer of sausages (hearts); Cherkizovsky Market, Europe's largest marketplace, located in Moscow between early 1990s to 2009 (diamonds); and Ostankino novyi standart, a wholesaler of meat and meat products (clubs).

The aces resemble those in the Russian style pack, while the courts bear a loose similarity to the Russian Epokha vozroshdeniya pack (though more fanciful).

‘Trading mart’ playng cards published by RusJoker, St Petersburg in 2005 ‘Trading mart’ playng cards published by RusJoker, St Petersburg in 2005 ‘Trading mart’ playng cards published by RusJoker, St Petersburg in 2005

Above: ‘Trading mart’ playing cards published by RusJoker, St Petersburg in 2005.

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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.

Russian Playing Cards

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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