China’s extraordinary history dates back to more than 5000 years and provides a rich collection of royal subjects which forms the basis of the Chao Playing Cards (limited production run of 12k each).

Over the lengthy span of Chinese history, each Chao (which is the pronounced word for dynasty in the Chinese language) is distinguished by the name and the impact of the individuals that ruled over that period of time. This very special and unique deck of cards pays tribute to four of the greatest and most recognized dynasties in Chinese history – Han, Tang, Ming and Qing. Each dynasty has an outstanding and reputable Emperor, Empress and General, each with their own notorious traits and fascinating stories. The Chao depict these influential men and women that were renowned and celebrated from each of the four famous dynasties.

To ensure we captured the essence of each dynasty, we invested a lot of time and resource into the research part of this project. The illustrations and design takes inspiration from not only the renowned rulers of the four Dynasties but also from Chinese culture itself, which is visible throughout the deck.

The chosen Chinese Emperors, Empresses and Generals all represent great power, wealth and wisdom, each with different traits and personalities and each dynasty holds their own trademarks to differentiate them from others. Inspired by these different elements, each Emperor features distinct clothing and accessories from their era, Empress’s have different hair pieces and holds the instrument that they played and Generals wear armor and yield the weapon used to fight in their notorious battles. Fine intricate details are added onto each court card, allowing each individual to possess different facial features which best reflects their character.

The Chao was designed to closely follow that of a traditional deck of cards in terms of positioning including head facing direction, hand placements and the presence of weapons and artifacts.

The 4 aces includes very detailed Chinese patterns. We also added a Chinese dragon on the ace of spades – a symbolism of imperial power and strength.

Each suit i.e. Spades, Hearts, Clubs and Diamonds reflects one of the four chosen dynasties (Han, Tang, Ming and Qing), with a renowned Emperor, Empress and General from that dynasty representing the King, Queen and Jack. Choosing who or what to use to represent the Jokers was not a straight forward task as we wanted these 2 very important cards to have some significant value so we chose 2 very important figures which are still looked very highly upon even up until this present day.

The Chao playing cards represents the History of China and where better to produce this deck than in China itself.

This is not just any ordinary deck of cards from China, but a completely new limited edition deck (only 12k of each will be produced) manufactured by MPC in terms of design and materials. We broke down the elements that make a great deck of cards and re-engineered it in its entirety from card stock finishing to varnishing used. The card stock is a new much lighter card stock which was specifically developed to obtain a perfect balance between the softness and stiffness needed to excel in performance such as for cardistry, magic tricks and handling. The new varnishing was a monumental part to this project which has been in development over the past 2 years. It took longer than we wanted but it was completely worth the time and investment. The outcome is truly exceptional. I guess you will have to try it to feel the unique difference of this newly engineered deck. As this deck is a limited edition, once it runs out, that’ll be it. If we have any more decks left after this project, they will be sold at a higher price on our website until they run out.

The tuck box completes the overall aesthetics of the deck and come in a carefully chosen choice of two significant and representative colors of China, porcelain blue and vermilion red. Embossing and gold foil stamping is used to symbolize wealth and royalty.

The Chao Playing Cards are designed and manufactured by MakePlayingCards.com (MPC), a professional playing cards manufacturer with over 35 years of experience specializing in custom playing cards and game cards. We are very proud to introduce the Chao Playing Cards, the first of its kind, brought to you by MPC.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/makeplayingcards/chao-dynasties-of-china-an-imperial-deck-of-playin?ref=discovery&term=chao

Full deck scan by macstrat @ https://cardscans.piwigo.com/index?/category/104-chao

China’s extraordinary history dates back to more than 5000 years and provides a rich collection of royal subjects which forms the basis of the Chao Playing Cards. The Han Purple edition CHAO playing cards has a limited production run of 2500.

Over the lengthy span of Chinese history, each Chao (which is the pronounced word for dynasty in the Chinese language) is distinguished by the name and the impact of the individuals that ruled over that period of time. This very special and unique deck of cards pays tribute to four of the greatest and most recognized dynasties in Chinese history – Han, Tang, Ming and Qing. Each dynasty has an outstanding and reputable Emperor, Empress and General, each with their own notorious traits and fascinating stories. The CHAO depict these influential men and women that were renowned and celebrated from each of the four famous dynasties.

This is the fifth edition of the CHAO playing card deck series which takes on a Han purple color. Purple is a very important and traditional color in China and used in ancient and imperial China from the Western Zhou period (1045–771 BC) until the end of the Han dynasty (circa 220 AD). Han purple was first used in paints in the Qin dynasty for the Terracotta Army in the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang symbolizing luxury and strong status. This symbolism comes from the Emperor period when the king’s advisors were dressed in purple. Also, in ancient Chinese myths, especially those related to Taoism, fairies often dressed in purple. The Han purple is used on the card backs and also on the tuck box where it is also embossed and imperially gold foil stamped. There is a limited production of 2500 decks only on this edition. Never to be produced again. So once they are sold out they’re gone.

To capture the essence of each dynasty, much time and resource was put into the research part of this project. The illustrations and design takes inspiration from not only the renowned rulers of the four Dynasties but also from Chinese culture itself, which is visible throughout the deck.

The Notorious gambling frog is a standard deck with redesigned standard court cards. It is designed to look classic with a touch of art nouveau style on the back design. The deck features high readability with its 4-corner-index, which is great for playing card games and for card tricks.

Specs:

FINALLY HERE : The MYNOC Project was officially launched in 2019 Live at Cardistry Con. The idea? Creating your own NOC deck using our MYNOC Sticker Campaign. Using these stickers, hundreds of you guys submitted photos under the hashtag #mynoc - and today we are proud to announce the release of our THIRD deck in the series.

MYNOC Deck 4 : BRUSH - the third in a series of MYNOC decks. Each deck will have a different design inspired by YOUR submissions. Deck #5 and #6 will be released in the next few months so start your collection today! Limited print run - These will NOT be reprinted.

For those who seek Victory, in any endeavour. Joker and the Thief presents a limited edition deck that is an homage to our founder James Milaras’ family.

The name Victory is a direct tribute to the efforts of James’ grandparents, who were Greek immigrants and owned and operated a fish and chips shop in Far North Queensland, Australia in the 80s through to the late 90s. The name of the shop was Victory and became an institution in the small port town of Cairns - known for quality food and customer service. Victory playing cards pays tribute in name to their immigrant spirit of hard work, of which we as a family are grateful to be inspired by and benefit from.

scans of every card can be seen

http://www.marytcusack.com/maryc/decks/html/Cards/Buskers.html

You will find them on the streets sharing their art form with the world. They are masters in their craft, be it music, dance, painting, drama, magic, comedy, acrobatics or juggling and they bring happiness to people everyday. They offer a moment of escape during a busy day and many times give us a refreshing boost. And while their livelihood depends on the tip you drop in their hat, they perform for the love of their craft.

A time before the United States existed, a time when we were subjects of a King across an ocean. The Sons of Liberty operated in the shadows, leaving secret signals, passing hidden messages, and meeting in the dead of night. However, people soon rallied with them, and their cause to resist British oppression quickly spread throughout the colonies.

Join us as we commemorate this first group of Patriots with the return of our acclaimed Sons of Liberty Playing Cards in an all-new red colorway.

These cards embody the spirit of freedom that the Sons of Liberty fought for, featuring Freemason symbols, the Liberty Tree, and many other secret images.