Texas Sesquicentennial
Texas Sesquicentennial commemoration playing cards produced by Alief Products Company in 1985.
Produced by Alief Products Company of Alief, Texas in 1985, this pack is an official commemorative of the Texas sesquicentennial, 1836-1986. Every card has an original drawing by Texas artist S. Wayne Cook depicting features about Texas life, tradition, history, buildings, or prominent individuals, beneath which is a brief description or explanation. The 2 Jokers depict the original designs of the 6 flags that have flown over the State of Texas, and below them the Lone Star Flag that has flown since 1839. At the time of publication, the pack was accompanied by a pamphlet further describing the person or event shown (not present with the pack described here).
Above: Texas Sesquicentennial playing cards produced by Alief Products Company of Alief, Texas in 1985.
NOTE: The same pack, still with the 1985 date visible on the cards, was later produced under the title “Historical drawings of Texas”, as an official Texas souvenir, but without any reference to the sesquicentennial anniversary (see both boxes).
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.
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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