Introduction to collecting Playing Cards.

Swap cards are mostly from a deck of normal playing cards. Collectors take one of each design or pattern from the deck for their collection. Usually there are a pair, but sometimes there may be four decks in a box, with different colours or pictures in each deck. Sometimes there is no 'pair' for a card, if just one pack was produced by the manufacturer, using the same pattern for the entire deck of cards. (Swap cards were also produced by Coles and Woolworths in the 1950's. These are now rare, and highly valued among collectors.)

A matching pair of cards can be the same design with variations in colour, or different pictures with the same kind of border to show they are a pair. There may even be four varieties of the one pattern in different colours. The subjects on the front of cards are endless. Some collectors only save a certain topic, such as animals, or just one kind of animal. Old fashioned or vintage-style pictures such as crinoline ladies and Old Masters paintings are popular. Other collectors specialise in Jokers or Aces.

In 1956, Coles Stores produced four separate sets of cards to commemorate the Olympic Games in Melbourne. There are 28 cards in each set, with flags of the competing nations, flora, fauna, industry, and sporting events pictured on them.

Saturday 3 February 2007

Some old Coles swap cards... just for kids!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I must be a big kid as I love these bunny rabbits the best! Do you have your cards in a special folder? I tried to get one but it was extremely difficult to get what I wanted. This blog is awesome and should attract alot of attention. Great Job Gina.

Anonymous said...

Hi Nicole, as a fellow collector I figured I could answer this one. If you want the original card albums, you'll usually find them available on Ebay, but they are a bit impractical (the little tas used to always break). Having said that I still have some of my original collection in one of these albums. But it is much easier in 9 or 6 pocket plastic sheets and these fit into a normal binder. Most newsagents have them or you can find them on ebay too. Hope that helps regards Katrina