RUSSIAN CRIMINAL PLAYING CARDS

Each suit in this pack of cards has been taken from a different deck hand-made by criminals in Soviet prisons during the 1980s. Thei r unique designs were formed with hand-cut stencils using inks mixed from soot and blood. In Soviet prisons card playing was prohi bited. Cards were constructed using everyday materials sourced from prison life. The respect commanded by any Russian criminal was d irectly related to his ability to play, and win, at cards. A thief could stake anything in a card game, a finger, an arm, the life o f another ...[Read more]