While most people know what playing cards are, and some even how to play a winning game of Blackjack or Poker, there’s much more to a typical deck of cards than what many people realise. These are just some facts we bet you didn’t know about a deck of cards before now.
The Meaning Behind The Suits
Cards have been around for a very long time. Most historians agree that playing cards first arrived on the scene at least 900 years ago, in China. And its most likely for this reason that it seldom occurs to anyone that hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds probably had to have had some original meaning or reason, as opposed to simply being random shapes selected willy-nilly.
The suits we know and recognise today originally started out as coins engraved with 4 different images – each with a very specific and special meaning. The four coins (and images) represented wealth, cups (representative of love), swords, and sticks. Over time, each of the four images evolved into the images we see on a typical deck of casino playing cards today.
Based On A True “Story”
Ever notice how the Kings, Queens, and Jacks all look quite distinctive? Different to one another? This is because the images of the royals we see on cards today were actually based on real people. The four Kings, for example, are based on the likenesses of Alexander the Great (clubs), Charlemagne (hearts), Julius Caesar (diamonds), and King David (spades).
An interesting misconception is that the Queen of Hearts is representative of Queen Elizabeth I. But despite the striking similarities between the two royal matriarchs, the Queen of Hearts in actual fact dates all the way back to Biblical times. The Queen of Hearts actually draws her inspiration from Judith – a female figure in the Bible.
Jacks – in actual fact not at all royals – arguably have the most interesting origins of all of the playing cards. Originally known as “knaves”, meaning he who serves others, i.e. a servant, the term “Jack” was only coined as late as the 19th century.
The common use of including the letter for Kings, Queens, and Jacks in the corner of each card had by this time got solid footing. But since the letter “K” was already in use in reference to a King, the word “knaves” – originally shortened to “Kn” – eventually became “J” instead.
Jack equalled “everyman”, hence the old saying, “Jack of all traits, but master of none”.
But What About Today?
Several companies the world over manufacture playing cards today. But of all of these, the US Playing Card Company remains the largest and the most famous. Now headquartered in Kentucky, the US Playing Card Company, this year 153 years in business and still going strong, each year manufactures and sells more than 100 million decks. Just try counting those for size!
An interesting story told about the US Playing Card Company in Cincinnati, is that the company did during the Vietnam war begin producing special decks of cards containing a total of 52 cards all displaying the Ace of Spades. These special decks were then reportedly sent to American troops fighting on the frontlines, who would famously leave a single Ace of Spades card on the body of each fallen soldier – thereby issuing a threatening warning and instilling fear in the enemy.
