Mahjong - III - "游の屋"

Mahjong- 144c. "游の屋"

 We have a rather curious case here. Aldough the cards to all appearences the cards look chinese, the name of the maker contains  "の"- a japanese word, meaning "of". However, it is known that in taiwan, this character is sometimes used to replace 的, having an identical meaning, to give the brand a more exotic feel. Hence, if I did not err in the transcription, the maker's name is "house of games"
Another curious feature is the colour scheme. This deck replaces blue with black, and the 2s, 3s and 5s of coins are only printed in either red or green, onitting black/blue entirely

                                                                             Coins.  

bamboos.

萬- wan or 10000s

The winds ( top, with "南"inverted) & dragons ( bottom) Again, black replaces blue

Some flowers. Note the different, more stylized carving

Mahjong II - KR brand

Mahjong deck - "KR brand" - 152c??? ( Incomplete)
The following is yet another mahjong deck. It is more typical of it's breed, being more of an oblong in shape ( 8.5 x 4.5 cm). This deck also better reflects the style of carving on conventional mahjong tiles
 Note the following features;
1- the deck posses No indices in English, whilst the first deck has alphabets and numbers in it's upper left corner. This deck posses no such feature
2- note tthe style of script. The script here is more fluid than the previous deck.

coins

Bamboos. Note the one of bamboos ( 1st row, 1st from left)

It is represented as a bird, as a single bamboo may be altered by cheats

萬,or tends of thousands

The winds and dragons

All the flowers

Mahjong part I - anon

"[Mahjong]" - 148c., ( anon)

 The game of mahjong, or mahjongg, as some of my readers may know, is usually played with tiles , somewhat like dominoes. However, mahjong is sometimes issued in playing card form ( such cards are sometimes known as "Kards", to avoid confusion with another piece of equipment used in the american game).
  Such decks, produced, albeit infrequently. Nevertheless, if one looks hard enough, such a deck may be discovered. Such decks come in several sizes, form long, thin oblongs, to ones the size of poker cards, as shown here.
 Note the followng features;
1- The deck is comprised of 3 main "suits",  coins , bamboos,  and "萬" , or tens of thousands. The cards in each suit rank form 1-9. Additionally, there is an assortment of extra cards, descriptios of which will be given below.
2- In each of the corners of the cards, we see a depiction of the subject of the card in miniature. These are the indexes of the cards.
 In addition to the above, the deck is usnsual, as it is firstly printed in plastic ( most such decks use paper) , and secondly, it's back bears an ad for Tiger beer.

the suit of coins

the suit of bamboos

the suit of  萬, or tens of thousands

Top row; ( L-R),east, south, west north. These cards are typically called the "winds"

bottom row ( R-L ) "紅中 ,白板 , 綠發"  lit. "red center, white board, green prosperity"

the aforementioned cards are often known as the "dragons" in English

Bonus cards: Top row- the "Flowers"- in this deck, there are 2 sets of 4 flowers each. half of each of the sets are shown.

Bottom row- "Animals"- Bonuses perculiar to S'porean / Malay mahjong

"Bresciane" ( Dal Negro)

"Bresciane" ( Dal Negro), 52c.

Another Bresciane, this time by Dal negro. Compare http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2011/11/bresciane-modanio.html
Note the ace of coins. ( 1st Pic,  1st row, 1st from right)  In this deck It is a blank circle. This is a relic form the days where cards were taxed. A space was left on the ace of coins so as to allow the tax-stamp to be placed on it .

Miniature cards ( English)

Miniature cards - anon ( english maker) , 53c. +joker
 
 Another miniature deck, probably from the 1940s-50s.It is ( apparently ) made in England. I wonder why this would be considered worth mentioning, as the deck is printed in a rather crude fashion; with some cards not aligned properly.
   However, it is a pretty little thing - observe the curious illustration on the back , depicting a pair of dogs on leashes, being walked as snow falls. The same design is reproduced on the wrapper
   Another curious feature is the black band that seperates the two halves of the courts. I thing that this was intended to be filled in with a customer's name (but given the poor quality of the printing , the name may not have been legible)
 Lastly, the deck contains a pair of two-of-diamonds. I have no knowlege how that card got there

joker, back,  and wrapper

the other side of the wrapper.

Miniature deck - Anon

Miniature deck- Anon , 52c.
 The miniature ( 4.5 x 2.8 cm) deck is somewhat of a mstery. The Desigin of the court cards indicates that the maker was imitating the English pattern, but there are many diffrernces. (see http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2012/03/international-pattern-part-i.html)

"Jeu de Tarot"

Jeu de tarot- 78c

Another version of the french tarot, somtims called the " Bourgeois Tarot"  or "tarot nouveau "
It was very probably intended for the lower end of the market, ( it is printed on a lower quality of card), The fact that I found it in a paris supermarket is evdience enough for the popularity of the game in france.
compare http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2012/02/french-tarot-grimand-part-i.html
and  http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2012/02/french-tarot-grimand-part-ii.html for a deck by Grimaud.      
Note the fact that the maker's name is printed on the ace of spades. Normally, the name would be on the ace of clubs. Go figure