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.

May 2026

For those collectors, who know me and my dislike of the English pattern, showing this deck here will come as a surprise. It's the first time in this section and probably the last time too. Last month I had already made my choice for this spot and had already started working on the pages, when I got in touch with a Belgian collector. A Dutch fellow collector had mentioned his name during a visit and I remembered that a couple of years ago this deck by the Speelkaartenfabriek Nederland had been found during the trading outside of the museum in Turnhout before the start of the Collector's Day there. It had ended up in the hands of this Belgian collector. I made him an offer he couldn't refuse and just before the end of April I went up and down to Belgium to finish the deal.

I had always understood that it was a complete deck, so I was a bit disappointed to find that there were no pip cards, but only the courts, aces, joker and a title card. However, with a little financial adjustment of our agreement the deal was completed. I was so keen to get this deck, because I didn't have this first edition of a SN English pattern yet ánd the extra card had never been seen or described before. The condition of the cards was as new and they came with the original wrapper. This first version was printed and published by the Nederlandsche Speelkaarten Fabriek (NSF), the predecessor of SN, in 1911 (without a joker) and since 1912 by SN. It remained in their offer until 1915.

I'm not a connoisseur of the English pattern, but it seems to me that in this version all the hallmarks of the pattern are there. The suicide king of hearts,  the one-eyed jacks of spades and hearts and all the courts had the correct attributes like the battle axe of the king of diamonds and the swords of the other kings, the scepter on the queen of spades and the flowers of the other queens. The feather on the jack of hearts and the weapons on the jacks, with the exception of a frivolous interpretation of that mysterious sign that the jack of spades usually holds.
The center designs are colorful and intriguingly unusual, but maybe I'm a bit biased. Fact is though that every manufacturer has his own designs and I have only seen a fraction of them.

What really intrigued me was the title card. The full name of the Speelkaartenfabriek Nederland isn't mentioned anywhere on the cards, the only reference is the SN logo at the top of the crown on the ace of spades. However, it's not on the title card either, where the maker is referred to as "The Good-Luck Playingcard Co." from Amsterdam (Holland). Still, the Good-Luck deck is presented in the earliest SN sample book (see bottom of this page). But apparently the deck was also aimed at a wider audience than just the Dutch and an attempt to enter the UK market or maybe even the US market. 
The absence of pip cards and the presence of this here unknown title card made me think that it could have been a sample set, which was only sent to wholesale or retail sellers abroad. Question remains why use a fake name? Especially, when the SN name is mentioned on the wrapper.

	Anyway, here's the content.

	In the English pattern only a special design for the Ace of Spades is applied, the other aces are plain.