I want to say that I am a watch collector. Although I currently have only two legit watches – a Seiko and a Roamer. One is a quartz, and the other is an automatic watch. If you ask any other watch collector whether having two watches constitutes a collection? Chances are he or she would say no. The same can be said about my fountain pen collection. Currently, I have two beautiful fountain pens. Even though I would like to say that I collect fountain pens as well, having only two probably would not count as a collection. Nevertheless, I keep telling myself and others that I collect watches and fountain pens. Hopefully, in a few years, I will have at least three times more watches and pens.
But I do have 30 decks of playing cards. Now that is a collection. You do not believe me? Please read this definition: “A collection refers to a group or set of items, objects, or entities that are gathered together based on a common characteristic, purpose, or criteria. Collections can be found in various contexts and may encompass a wide range of things, from tangible objects to abstract concepts.” Interestingly, not a single definition mentions that you need to have a definite amount of “tangible objects or abstract concepts” to call your gathered “group or set of items” a collection. Thus maybe you can call my two watches and two fountain pens a collection. Sorry, I am going off-topic here.
Playing cards. Why? It is hard to define why I started to collect playing cards. Or when, for that matter. I should probably clarify that I currently have 30 decks only in Brussels. I have a couple more in Latvia, thus my whole collection is slightly larger. Since I have access solely to my Brussels collection, you will see below only that. I tried to group my decks based on common themes and places of origin. On a few occasions, a deck or two may find itself depicted more than once. So if you ever want to send me something apart from watches and fountain pens, send me a beautiful deck of cards.
Sadly, I do not have my oldest card deck in Brussels. But I can show you my latest. This one is from Bicycle that I bought on the 2nd of January 2024.
What encouraged me to start collecting playing cards in Brussels? If I remember correctly, it began after one of my long weekend trips to Brussels before I started working here full-time. I bought in the airport a deck about Belgium. After arriving in Jelgava I played it with my wife and probably then and there an idea was born to try to buy a deck whenever we are abroad. Later my wife went to Malaga and she brought back the deck below, and so it slowly started. Since Brussels is more or less at the center of Europe and since I plan to stay in Brussels indefinitely, I started to accumulate new decks and bring here old ones. Last year in August I went to Latvia for a brief summer vacation, when packing to head back to Belgium I remembered to pack a few of my decks. Thus I had a base from which I could start to build my collection in Brussels.
The deck above is not the only one bought and brought by my wife while I stayed at home. To Malaga, she went with a co-worker, whereas the German deck below she purchased while meeting family in Berlin. Safe to say that when we both go to either Malaga or/and Berlin, these two decks will get a couple of siblings. Also, the German deck is rather interesting.
This deck from Berlin shows why it is interesting to collect playing cards. Not all of them are the same. Yes, some may be more like the one from Malaga, where only the back cover differs from any standard deck. Whereas the deck from Germany shows you that there is immense room for creativity when it comes to playing cards. I am not sure if this deck was the first one that made me realize this, but I can surely say that after this one I started to pay more attention to whether a deck is a souvenir type or a collector type. A souvenir type is cheap and plain whereas a collector type is slightly more expensive and creative.
Sadly, not all of my recent trips finished with a new deck of cards. For some reason, I was not able to find a deck in Luxembourg. Thus a solid reason to go again to this wonderful country. The same almost occurred in Malta. We were beginning to think that this religious country had forbidden the sale of playing cards when by chance we stumbled into a souvenir shop and found a lonely deck. It is plastic. It is golden. Safe to say that it currently stands out in my collection.
With Malta producing only one deck and Luxembourg zero, all eyes were on Amsterdam. I slightly knew that there I could probably get more than one. The reason for that is I found out that museums tend to sell either special collectors decks or they produce their own. Here I will make a slight detour from travel decks and show you three wonderful sets of playing cards that can be found in museums. At least here in the wonderful Brussels.
As you can see, playing card themes can be as diverse as their designs. Also, I would like to believe that by now you do understand why people like me collect these items, right? This reminds me that I am overdue for a museum visit.
Let’s move back to cards bought during our trips exploring Europe. We left off with Amsterdam. There I managed to find five decks. Two are from a double deck, meaning, two decks of playing cards packaged in one box. Which was a first in my collection. Also, as I would like to think comes as no surprise, I found two 18+ decks. With the abundance of sex shops in Amsterdam it would have been a surprise if there would not be any erotic-themed cards. You may recall that in Amsterdam’s sex museum, there were even sexual-themed cards displayed behind a glass as part of the museum’s collection. But more on this later on. See below my findings in Amsterdam.
Currently, Portugal has been my biggest trip in terms of cards bought. Six new decks. Which was unexpected. Even though we did visit a few museums in hopes of finding playing cards. Museums of Lisbon do not sell playing cards, in case you were wondering. Souvenir shops had a lot of cheap decks, from which I bought one. Then I had to visit the oldest operating bookshop that happened to have a beautiful deck, the one with the faces of famous writers. Even the National Pantheon had a few on sale. The one with kings and queens of Portugal was bought at the Pantheon. The deck with the text on the face of the card is an interesting one. It is advertised as “Lisbon in your pocket”. The package contains a full deck of cards with a map of Lisbon, and each playing card has a description of something only found in the Portuguese capital. Two cards even have a short vocabulary. As you would expect, we found this deck during our last evening in Lisbon. The last deck was bought at the Lisbon airport. See below how they look.
So far that is it from our trips. I would be willing to wager a bottle of champagne by saying that my trip to London in 2024 will produce more decks than Lisbon. I do not have any evidence to support this statement, only a gut feeling. Will see.
Please scroll past the next set of pictures if you are reading this with the younger audience. Although I photographed these cards in a way that does not show much, it is better to be safe than sorry. You already saw my two erotic decks from Amsterdam. I have one more. This one was a gift from my lovely wife back in Latvia. You see, a while ago there was a Latvian artist who collaborated with the most famous sex shop in Latvia – SexyStyle, to produce a kinky deck. Each of the faces of the playing cards was drawn by this artist. Also, the deck is cased in an aluminum box, and the back of the cards is also quite stylish. Certainly a gem in my collection, more so since I think they no longer sell these cards. See below.
Interesting, right? If you manage to find a deck with various watches depicted on the faces of the cards, you know where to find me.
I am also traveling to Strasbourg a few times a year. Do you think that I have not looked for French playing cards? I have. I have two decks. French cards are interesting because their kings, queens, and jacks all have names. The specific names and characters associated with the face cards may vary slightly between different decks and regions. This tradition dates back several centuries and is rooted in the historical and cultural influences on the design of playing cards. As far as I can tell and from what I have read, the overall practice of naming face cards remains a part of the cultural heritage of playing cards in France. Thus it will be interesting to find other French decks where kings, queens, and jacks are named differently from the ones seen below.
What about Belgium? I have a couple of decks bought in Belgium. You can not have a collection of playing cards in Brussels without a deck that has the Manneken Pis in 54 different outfits. Also, is it a collection without Tintin? I would say no. Luckily I have them both and then some.
I have not yet been to America. But I have five “Made in USA” decks. Arguably these decks have the best feel of any deck in my current collection. They look premium. When you play with them these cards feel different, they feel well-made and durable. The company is called “Bicycle” and it has a collection as well. If I am not mistaken then currently I only have one ninth of their entire collection. I will get them all. See below, also, each deck has a different face and back design. Simply a joy to look at.
The last two decks about which I have not yet said a word. The first one is a James Bond-themed deck. Simply by chance, I found these playing cards on Amazon. I scrolled through the search results of “playing cards” because that is what I do in my free time, and I stumbled on the 007. I would not call myself the biggest fan of James Bond, but I did like pictures of these cards. Thus I bought them. They are lovely as you can see for yourself. And the last deck is probably my most played set in the entire collection. When we arrived in Brussels we used only this deck. When we had visitors from Latvia we also used only this deck. So it is a bit worn but that just simply adds to its charm. See below both decks.
That is my current collection in Brussels. Luckily I have the best wife possible who not only understands my habit of collecting but also supports it. Do not forget, she not only bought a couple of the decks listed above, but she was the one who gifted me my Roamer watch for my 30th birthday. Isn’t she the best? I certainly think so.
I will probably write something about my playing card collection again once I get to 60. Happy hunting fellow collectors.
Kindly,
Olaaf
