Name/Title
Souvenir playing card decks (2 packs, in original boxes)Entry/Object ID
2025.1.397Description
Two souvenir-grade 54-card playing decks with lacquer-coated card stock, each in its original printed paperboard box. Card backs feature a decorative motif of a stylized sailing galleon with billowing sails amid swirling waves, in pink, magenta, and gold. Box exterior shows the illustrated Queen of Clubs court card on one face and printed specifications on the reverse. Box indicates each complete set originally included two calendars.Context
Mass-produced Soviet souvenir item from the final months of the USSR (dissolved December 1991). Decorative "souvenir" decks like this — lacquered, folk-art-styled, sold as gift sets bundled with pocket calendars — were common consumer/tourist goods.Collection
The Cabrera Arús family collectionMade/Created
Manufacturer
Leningrad Color Printing Combine, USSR State Committee for PressDate made
1991Place
City
LeningradCountry
U.S.S.R.Region
Eastern EuropeContinent
EuropeNotes
OST 29.25-82 is a printing-industry standard; the 1991 date on the box is the firm anchor for dating.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Notes
КАРТЫ ИГРАЛЬНЫЕ СУВЕНИРНЫЕ → "Souvenir Playing Cards"
С ЛАКОВЫМ ПОКРЫТИЕМ → "With lacquer coating"
А-1-54 → article/model code A-1-54
1 колода → "1 deck"
54 карты → "54 cards"
ОСТ 29.25-82 → industry standard (OST) 29.25-82
Арт. 1С9-2424446 → "Art. [article no.] 1S9-2424446"
Календари 2 шт. → "Calendars, 2 pcs."
ЦЕНА КОМПЛЕКТА → "Price of the set"
1991 г. → "Year 1991"
Ленинградский комбинат цветной печати → "Leningrad Color Printing Combine"
Госкомитета СССР по печати → "of the USSR State Committee for Press"
Ленинград, пр. Обуховской обороны, 110 → "Leningrad, Obukhovskoy Oborony Ave., 110"Parts
2 decks of playing cards (nominally 54 cards each — count not verified)
2 paperboard boxes
Calendars missingMaterials
Material
PaperMaterial Notes
Paper / card stock, lacquer coating, printed paperboard boxesRelationships
Related Places
Place
City
HavanaCountry
CubaRegion
Caribbean, Central AmericaNotes
usePlace
City
LeningradCountry
U.S.S.R.Region
Eastern EuropeContinent
EuropeNotes
productionResearch Notes
Notes
Style: White Palekh (белый Палех). Style attributed as "white Palekh" via online search; consistent with the visual evidence but not confirmed by box text (box does not name the artist or design series). Worth verifying against catalogued Soviet Palekh-style decks.
Palekh is a Russian folk art tradition from the village of Palekh, derived from pre-Revolutionary icon painting and reorganized after 1924 into a lacquer-miniature craft — known for elongated, richly detailed figures, fine gold linework, and ornamental backgrounds. Traditional Palekh miniatures are painted on a black lacquer ground; "white Palekh" refers to the variant executed on a white/cream ground instead, as seen in the pale backgrounds of these cards.Created By
María A. Cabrera ArúsCreate Date
June 29, 2026Updated By
María A. Cabrera ArúsUpdate Date
June 30, 2026
