Mardi Gras playing cards

Published November 27, 2023 • Updated November 27, 2023

Mardi Gras playing cards illustrated by Dave Edgerly, USA, 2015

Designed and illustrated by Dave Edgerly, the artist behind Edgy Brothers, this pack is inspired by the celebration of Mardi Gras, New Orleans. It was funded via Kickstarter in 2015 and printed by the Expert Playing Card Company (EPCC) in Taiwan. The court cards are intricately designed, with several adorned with the colourful and traditional purple, green and yellow costumes and black masks representing Mardi Gras Indians (also known as Black Masking Indians), who dress up for Mardi Gras in suits influenced by Native American ceremonial apparel.

The Jack of Diamonds is the “Flag Boy” the one who carries the flag that represents the particular group, while the King of Clubs is the “Big Chief”. The Ace of Spades features the traditional King Cake - hundreds of thousands of which are eaten in New Orleans during the Carnival season. The Hearts and Diamonds suits are coloured gold rather than red, and to complete this beautiful pack, gold foil features on the tuck box and gold metallic ink on the cards. See the box►

Above: Mardi Gras playing cards illustrated by Dave Edgerly and printed by the Expert Playing Card Company (EPCC) in Taiwan, 2015.

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By Peter Burnett

United Kingdom • 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.