Card deck:The Stage Playing Cards

Novelty card decks, through the years, feature famous characters and unusual designs. A very common sort of specialty deck was manufactured around the turn of the twentieth century. "The Stage" card deck is just a standard deck, but instead of kings and queens in the design, it features four oval portraits of stage actresses on the queen, and of actors on the king. Although many of us have likely forgotten such names as Fanny Davenport and Mrs. Potter, a little research may remind us of Ellen Terry, Maurice Barrymore, and Julia Arthur.