Sextet: 6 handed bridge
6 handed bridge playing cards designed by Ralph E. Peterson, 1966.
Published by Secobra of Dallas Texas, and printed by the USPCC in 1966, this pack was designed by Ralph E. Peterson. In addition to the four standard suits there are two new suits, both coloured blue: tennis racquets and a ship’s wheel or helm. All six aces are specially designed to provide a better representation of their suit. The cards were originally issued as a double set, with the rules for sextet contract bridge given on the inside of the box lid. My copy of this pack contains one joker.
Above: Sextet: 6 handed bridge designed by Ralph E. Peterson, published by Secobra of Dallas Texas, and printed by the USPCC, 1966.
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.
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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