Patra's Swap Cards Collection

More cards coming soon!

2011-10-24T22:24:00.003+11:00

If anyone is still looking at this blog, I do apologise for letting it slip so long. I have another thousand cards to post here, it is just a matter of time! I hadn't bought any cards for a few years, but I now have two new sources, and have added a few to my collection. I've also re-arranged the collection, with my Coles cards in a separate album from everything else, so I may just delete everything on here, and re-photograph them all in their new categories. But don't hold your breath..it will be a big job.
If you are reading this blog, and wish me to continue posting photos of my collection, I would appreciate it if you would leave a comment to let me know. If I don't get any feedback, I will assume nobody reads it, and will delete the blog.

Old Fashioned Ladies cards, second round.

2009-05-18T23:34:00.003+10:00

Vintage ladies cards.

2009-05-13T23:41:00.003+10:00

Now that the dogs and cats are 'done', I thought I should start on the Old Fashioned/Vintage/Crinoline Ladies cards, whichever you want to call them. Strictly speaking, they are not all Crinoline ladies, so I prefer to just call them Old Fashioned Ladies. Some of the ladies on these cards have male partners...maybe I should call them Old Fashioned People? Ah, what the heck...
Some of these images are not very clear. This is because the cards themselves are faded due to their age. Bear in mind that I have had these older cards since the 1950's, and they were faded when I got them, so goodness only knows how old they are - 70 or 80 years maybe?

Some improvements made to this blog.

2009-05-13T01:17:00.004+10:00

I haven't done much to this blog since it was created, but I still get a number of visitors here, so I decided to upgrade it a little. When I first set it up, I didn't know how to change the layout, so I posted the introduction as an ordinary post, but dated it 2010, so it would stay at the top of the blog where readers could see it first up. Today, after all this time I discovered that I could add a piece of text to the permanent template, so I transferred my introduction post to the top section of the blog. In doing that, I lost 14 comments that were there, so I apologise to anyone who might be looking for them! Somehow I doubt it, as most of them had been there for over a year.

I have added two items to the sidebar. One is a fascinating website on the history of playing cards, and the other is a Flickr photo show which was created by my friend Marian. She invited me to post photos of my cards there, but after discussing the pros and cons, we decided that we would leave things as they are, i.e. I will continue to post photos of my collection here, and Marian will post hers on her Flickr account.

Another modification I have made is to put labels on all my posts, so if someone is looking for cards with dogs on, they should be able to find them without having to scroll through the whole blog. Just click on the label at the foot of any post, and it will take you to all the posts in that category.

All this has motivated me to extract the digit and start scanning more of my cards, so expect some more photos here soon!

Reply to Ann, who asked about types of cards.

2007-09-11T01:04:00.000+10:00

Ann wants to know more about the kinds of cards that are collected. My introduction at the beginning of this blog explains a bit, but perhaps not enough. Swap cards can be single cards from a deck of 54 (or is it 56?), which have any of the four suites on the back (clubs, spades, diamonds or hearts), jokers and sometimes blank backs. Other swap cards have been produced by various companies such as Coles and Woolworths in earlier years, and these usually have blank backs or a brand name printed on them. Decks of playing cards are often produced by companies as advertising material, particularly airlines such as Qantas, who hand them out to passengers on long flights for something to do! Some collectors specialise in collecting advertising cards alone.

Cat Swap Cards - just for Meow!

2007-08-11T23:58:00.004+10:00

Next lot of cards will be the Cats.

2007-06-09T00:01:00.000+10:00

I have now completed posting my Doggie swap cards - hope you have enjoyed looking at them. Next, I will start scanning the Cat cards, and as before, will post a few whenever I can. I'll try to post on a more regular basis...there are several thousand cards to be scanned and downloaded, so it will take quite a while! I wonder if there is any limit to what one can post on blogs. I've seen some incredibly long blogs with little movies on, and 'everything that opens and shuts', so it seems there is no limit. Guess I'll find out one day if Blogger/Yahoo suddenly decide I'm over my limit!

Dogs (4)

2007-06-08T23:59:00.001+10:00

Dog swap cards (3)

2007-06-08T23:55:00.002+10:00

The two cards in the middle of the first two rows are Woolworths cards. Note the border of blue motifs around the picture. All their cards have this border in varying colours around the pictures.

Apologies for lack of posting!

2007-06-07T00:37:00.001+10:00

As usual with me, I start things off in an explosion of enthusiasm, then I get sidetracked by other things happening in my life! I have had my card album sitting under the computer desk for months, meaning to do some more scanning, but time gets away. Maybe this coming weekend which is a long weekend here in Victoria, I will get the time to sit down and scan a whole lot of pages, and have them on my PC ready to post on this blog on a regular basis.

Fay asked how to tell the difference between Coles and Woolworths swap cards. Both brands had plain white backs, although some of the Coles cards had the Embassy brand printed on the back. Coles cards had many designs over the years, but Woolworths didn't have so many. The Woolworths cards also had a particular border around the picture on all their cards. The next lot of cards I scan will feature two of these cards, and I will point them out so you can see what this border is.

Dog Swap cards (1) 1st March.

2007-03-02T00:16:00.001+11:00

Dog swap cards (2)

2007-03-02T00:13:00.001+11:00

Birds

2007-02-24T00:17:00.001+11:00

Birds

2007-02-24T00:15:00.001+11:00

Birds - Pheasants.

2007-02-24T00:12:00.001+11:00

Pheasants and ducks were a popular subject on playing cards, for some reason. There are a lot more in this series of Pheasants, but I have never concentrated on collecting all of them.

Birds.

2007-02-24T00:07:00.001+11:00

Birds.

2007-02-24T00:02:00.001+11:00

The three cards in the middle row are "Coles" cards. These birds are most Australian native, the exceptions being the Ostrich (centre row, right) and the blue macaw (bottom left) which for some reason the artist has paired with an Australian sulphur crested cockatoo - weird!

2007-02-23T23:57:00.001+11:00

These are the last of my bird swap cards. Next time I will return to the dog cards which I started on previously. I should have stayed on one theme to be consistent, but got sidetracked! The three cards on the bottom row have a fourth one (yellow) which I don't yet have in my collection. Hope to find that one at the next Card club meeting - I hate missing one of a set!

Scotty dogs

2007-02-10T00:06:00.001+11:00

Scotty dogs on playing cards were immensely popular for some reason.

Dogs, dogs and more dogs.

2007-02-09T23:59:00.001+11:00

Most of the cards on the left are very old, cc. 1940/50. The ones above are mostly all Coles cards from around the 1950's.

Coles 'dog' swap cards

2007-02-03T22:36:00.001+11:00

These cards are not playing cards with hearts, diamonds, spades, etc. on the back. Coles cards are sometimes known as 'blank backed cards', although some of their cards had 'Embassy' printed on the back, as that was a Coles trademark for some years.

More dogs.

2007-02-03T22:35:00.001+11:00

Dog Pairs

2007-02-03T22:29:00.001+11:00

A classic example of where the same design is used for two matching decks, only the colour is changed for each deck.

Dog and cat pairs

2007-02-03T22:27:00.001+11:00

Obviously the bottom two are not a pair. I don't have the pairs to those.

Bird cards

2007-02-03T22:21:00.001+11:00

These are two pages from an album. Notice how the cards in the centre vertical rows are pairs. It has to be done this way because the album pages are three cards across.

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

2007-02-03T22:03:00.001+11:00