Monday, June 21, 2010

Guest Post: Collectible Vintage Playing Cards


My friend Sally has a wonderful eBay store (thousandsofcards) specializing in vintage playing cards.  Through Sally I have also come to really enjoy these cards, and have some charming vintage Dachshund playing cards in my personal collection.  Sally wrote a great blog article to share here about collectible vintage playing cards:

Collecting single -- opposed to decks -- playing cards is a popular hobby among senior citizens around the world and is becoming popular with younger people too. Many seniors collect cards because of the warm childhood memories cards reawaken in them. Others collect single playing cards because they are introduced to this wonderful hobby through friends of theirs and because they enjoy the fun of sharing and trading cards with one another.


I began collecting single playing cards when I was very young in the 1950s. They were called trading cards at that time because young girls would spend hours trading cards with each other and because these cards did not have any numbers of suits such as the King of Diamonds on the reverse side of them -- they were blank on the reverse side. This wonderful childhood hobby entertained me and my older sister for hours on end. When we became teenagers, however, our interest turned to boys and our cards were donated to charity. In the early 1990s, my brother Jim gave me a book on antiques for a holiday gift. That book revived my interest in single playing cards. I soon met a man who lived close by who was also a collector and he helped me revive my love of collecting cards by introducing me to other collectors and by giving me several boxes of single playing cards. Today my collection is much larger than the collection I had as a child and the number of traders I share my cards with has also grown exponentially.

I love this hobby and sharing my knowledge of cards with others. I sell my extra/duplicate cards online to collectors around the world. Some people collect only specific types of cards such as art deco style single playing cards or single playing cards that have a picture or drawing of a Dachshund or Scottie Dog on them. Other people collect only cards that advertise Liquor products or Tobacco products. Still others, like me, collect all kinds of cards. While I have my favorites -- cards with pictures or drawings of animals on them -- I also enjoy cards with people, paintings, scenes, railroads, ships, and vintage ads on them. I trade with several other collectors on a monthly basis and am amazed at the number of different single cards there are. Friends of mine search for cards for me regularly and my gifts on birthdays and holidays always include cards.

Please visit my eBay Store to see the types of cards that are available and of interest to collectors.  ThousandsOfCards on eBay
 
Thank you, Sally, for this great blog post!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I think collecting single playing cards is a wonderful hobby and would be really fun, even these days, for a child. It's amazing to see the different designs available. I especially like the vintage ads and patriotic pictures. Great guest post, Sally!

Birdhouse Books said...

I agree, Susan! It would still be a fun hobby for children today. Of course, my favorites are the dog cards!

strayspay said...

I love the idea of collecting something that can be stored so easily and yet very accessible. I'm with you, Trish, I like the dog cards best.

strayspay said...

Collecting an items that is both interesting, easy to store and yet very accessible is great! I love the dog cards too but I can't decide which are my favorites. Wow, what a selection this seller has.

Birdhouse Books said...

Carol, that is the nice thing about collecting any type of cards ... all my Dachshund cards (photos, postcards, Valentines, playing cards) are stored in a bread box. I love having such a compact collection!