Just like the "Joker of the Month" in the Jokers section we will select a "Deck of the Month" from all the decks that we could add to our collection during that month. It will be what we consider our best find. We've started this section in April 2007 and without any doubt we can say here that over the years there will be antique, vintage and modern decks shown on these pages. Age, design and value of the chosen decks may be very different each time.

 

November 2025

 

I had won this deck at the Potter & Potter auction halfway October and thanks to my friend Larry, who had picked it up there and sent it to me, it arrived halfway this month.

I was very happy with the overall condition and pleased to find that it came with most parts of the original box (see below).
No, the deck wasn't cheap but didn't cost a bundle either.

 

Of course I was happy with the Tiffany edition of the Harlequin transformation deck of 1879 (see April 2017), but I've always appreciated this one from the Kinney Harlequin Series 2 more. The deck wasn't published by Tiffany, but by the Kinney Tobacco Company. Their first edition was done as small insert cards in packages of their Sweet Caporal cigarettes in 1888. The drawings were copies of the Tiffany deck, with some reversed designs, and an ace of spades with Kinney advertising. A full 52 cards deck could be collected by exchanging cards with other smokers or by smoking a lot yourself. So a complete deck of these square cornered insert cards is very rare to find.
Because of the success of this campaign Kinney Bros. started a similar campaign in 1889, but with completely different designs on the courts and pips and a joker was added. It was published as Series 2. Kinney has issued other -different- series of insert cards too. When 100 of these square cornered insert cards or "tickets" from any of the series had been collected they could be exchanged for the full sized playing cards deck here below.

Although the courts of  both the Tiffany and the Kinney deck would have fitted nicely in my xpo about "The International Pattern and it's Anomalies" they are quite different. In the Tiffany edition they are still rather flat, with hardly any shadowing, but in the Kinney edition they come to life, even with their clothing as a reminder of the pattern. It's a pity that the artist remains unknown. He has done a wonderful job and not only on these courts and aces. DO NOT forget to click the aces and enjoy the colourful pip cards.

  

Spades are spades and handy for gardening.
........Music should come from the heart.

 

CLICK THE ACE TO SEE ALL THE PIPS OF THAT SUIT.

 

In the mood for a drink at the club.

Eyes fixed on money and diamonds.

 

On the joker two women embrace a figure, dressed in Middle-Eastern style and wearing a fez. Likely a Turk, as the fez was a popular headwear in Turkey in the 19th century and Kinney made cigarettes from a blend of Turkish and Virginia tobacco. The fez is also depicted on the back design as a trade mark.
The women represent Lady Liberty on the left, complete with the Phrygian cap a.k.a. Liberty cap in reference to the American Revolution, and on the right a typical British young lady, shedding tears, probably overwhelmed by emotions.

 


Front and sides...

At first I thought that the front of the box would reveal the name of the artist, but a picture of a complete front showed that it reads "illustrated by the most celebrated Artists", suggesting more than one artist was involved. 

 

PS

The Kinney Tobacco Company was founded by Francis S. Kinney around 1869. Not much later his brother Abbot joined him and the company was renamed Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company. In those days the cigarettes were still rolled by hand, until a cigarette rolling machine was invented in 1880.

In the 1870's and 80's Kinney Bros. was one of the 6 leading cigarettes manufacturers in the US.

Their main brand was Sweet Caporal, in which the insert cards could be found.

In 1890 Kinney Bros, together with other cigarettes manufacturers, merged into the American Tobacco Company. The Sweet Caporal brand was launched in 1878 and after it had become a popular brand in Canada, the name survived several later mergers and wasn't discontinued until 2011.