GREETINGS TO ALL DISCOURSE MEMBERS AND GUESTSHi, my name is Tom Dawson, and I'm the new owner of the Discourse Forum. Together with my wife Judy, we are
longtime collectors of old and unusual decks and officers of
52 Plus Joker - the premier American Playing Card Collectors Club. Judy and I are also the authors of the definitive work on early American cards –
The Hochman Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards.
Like all of you, we live and breathe playing cards!
WHY DID I PURCHASE THE DISCOURSE?My primary purposes are to provide an environment for
The Discourse to continue to grow and flourish, as well as to venture with 52+ Joker in providing Discourse membership access to a different dimension of playing card collecting and at the same time, allowing the 52+ Joker membership to learn about and understand modern card design and the modern card collector.
Simply put,
we all love the same thing – Playing Cards. There’s a lifetime of information to learn from each other, so let’s get started.
Judy and I filmed an interview early last year with local magicians Ben Train and Chris Mayhew for their project
Series of Unfortunate Effects. While this video is planned to launch early next year, we would love to let you watch it now. We show you a little bit of our Playing Card collection, and share a few essential tips to help you with yours.
Tom and Judy Dawson on Playing Cards -
click image above to watchLike the clip above, our plan is to introduce new content on unusual, antique, and vintage playing cards from the vast knowledge base of 52+ Joker members' collections and experience as well as from articles published in our quarterly publication,
Clear The Decks.
WHAT IS THIS 52 PLUS JOKER ORGANIZATION?For those of you who don’t know about 52+ Joker, it was founded about 30 years ago to enable collectors to share information and buy and sell unusual, vintage and antique American playing cards. Sound slightly familiar?
Judy and I, and many other members of the 52+J, are also knowledgeable about playing cards from other continents of the world. For those who want more information about this great club,
please visit the official 52 Plus Joker website and have a look around.
Maybe even
purchase yourself a membership as an early gift this holiday season? The club would love to have you!
THANK YOUsBefore I sign-off and let the forums start chatting to a feverish pitch, I want to thank a few people who helped make all this possible:
The Discourse Staff - I'm glad to have you here, and look forward to a bright future together, etc.
Alex Yusupov – You have worked hard to make the Discourse a terrific source for playing card aficionados, and we thank you. You can rest well knowing this forum remains in good hands and will continue to have the benefit of your involvement.
Don Boyer – Your enthusiasm for playing cards is infectious. It’s an honor to have you continue running The Discourse. Thank you for all your help.
And finally …Lee Asher – I couldn’t have done any of this without you, and I am excited that you will continue to be my
consigliere on this journey. Thank you!
NOW WHAT?Now it’s time we celebrate in the hobby [avocation!!!] of collecting playing cards. I look forward to meeting many of you on this Forum and hearing your comments, views, and opinions about this exciting collectible we all love and treasure.
Let’s talk playing cards!
