Bidding Four Diamonds

Back briefly to something in the latest issue of Shumi no bunbôgu bako…

I play a hand of cards now and then, but can’t honestly describe it as a hobby, or a regular activity. On the other hand, I do love old luggage labels, and when I saw the deck of cards Pentacle is offering in Stationery Hobby Box, I had an instant urge to order a deck, to play at bidding and sloughing with such a noble array of cards.

Look at the photos here and try to tell yourself they aren’t beautiful. My favorites are the eight of spades and the four of diamonds, probably because they call to mind my own days of traveling by ship. Someone put out a calendar similar to these cards a couple of years back, so it was no great leap in carrying the same idea over to a deck of playing cards and raising the number of images from twelve to fifty-two.

The Pentacle website is unfortunately, all in Japanese, though clicking on the hyperlinked thumbnails will bring up pictures of their products. I sent them an email asking about overseas orders, particularly from the US, but so far have not gotten a response. The Luggage Label playing cards are priced at ¥1,470, which is in the neighborhood of US $16.00.