Since early in the 20-th century the Holland America Line provided playing cards on board of their vessels for the entertainment of their passengers.

The back sides of the decks have always sported graphics associated with the Line in the form of the ships, the different logos of the respective eras, or even the world voyage for which the decks were specifically created.

In most cases, the decks consist of a so-called “bridge deck”, meaning that it includes one or more Jokers and a bridge scoring card. Those decks that were used in the on-board casinos do usually not include either.

In many cases, the playing cards were offered in a nice cardboard, plastic or even leather enclosure that could hold one or two decks. These boxes by themselves are also very collectable, especially those of the early days until approximately 1940. After the second World War, the graphics become less elaborate and carry less interest from the Holland America Line collector.

For completeness of the playing card collectibles of the Holland America Line both the boxes and the cards are shown , as well as some of the scoring pads in the collection of the author.

If you have playing cards or related collectibles that you do not find on this site, please contact me. I would be  happy to purchase the item(s) from you, or receive a 300dpi scan to place on this site with credit to the collector in who’s collection the item resides.

Tiemen Spits (tiemen @ halpostcards.com)

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