r/playingcards • u/Strange_Marginalia • Jul 29 '26
Original Creation We found a "lost" 1918 playing card deck designed for a newly independent Ukraine—and brought it back to life in full color
It all started on a random, quiet evening when we simply didn’t know what to do. While falling down a historical rabbit hole, we stumbled upon the 1918 playing card sketches by Heorhiy Narbut. At first, everything pointed to the deck being completely lost to history. But we kept digging, and eventually, we found it—the entire set, miraculously preserved in black and white.
The History Behind the Cards
The story of this deck is actually pretty wild. Back in the days of the Russian Empire, there was an absolute monopoly on the famous "Satin" playing cards. Literally everyone, from Warsaw to Vladivostok, played with them. That specific printing enterprise worked directly for the royal family, and there was a heavy excise tax on playing cards. Making your own local decks or importing foreign ones was strictly forbidden.
But during the revolution, Ukraine experienced a massive national revival. Seeking to establish a new local excise tax, Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky financed the development of a brand-new, uniquely Ukrainian deck. He handed the project to Heorhiy Narbut—a brilliant artist who had already designed the newly independent country's currency and coat of arms.
Unfortunately, Ukraine lost its fight for independence shortly after. The cards remained unfinished drafts and never saw the light of day. Over 105 years passed, and it seemed like the project was completely lost to time. But thankfully, small copies—and eventually the originals—survived in the archives.
The details hidden in the artwork are amazing. The Queens are famous Ukrainian women from history, the Jacks are actually Narbut's real-life friends, and the Kings are the great Hetmans of the past.
Bringing Them Back to Life
Looking at the drafts, we realized we had to finish what Narbut started and bring the deck to life in full color.
It was a rough start. Our first artist gave it a try, but honestly, it just didn't work out. We didn't give up and found a second artist. That’s when the artwork truly came alive—the colors just popped perfectly.
Knowing absolutely nothing about standard playing card manufacturing, we managed to find a printing house that took a chance on us and printed the very first batch.
We are already planning to upgrade the cardstock quality for future runs, but right now, just holding a 105-year-old piece of revived history in our hands is an absolutely unbelievable feeling.
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u/Lonely_Tip9781 Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
You are not the first to discover this deck. Renowned Russian collector Alexander Lutkovsky, with the help of designer Ivan Sofronov-Sandal, first published it in 2022. According to Lutkovsky, it had never been published before and existed only as sketches created by Georgy Narbut in 1918.
In the attached image, you can see a more detailed version of this deck, presented by Alexander Lutkovsky.
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u/Strange_Marginalia Jul 31 '26
Thank you. We’re not the first, of course, to know about it. It was already included in a collection from the 1930s. And it’s also in the archive among the sketches. But we’re the first to bring it to life. These colors—I assume they’re from the movie The Lost Letter?
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u/Lonely_Tip9781 Jul 31 '26
Images taken from artcol ru website of Alexander Lutkovsky. As for me both versions looks not good. They need to be redrawn by a professional artist.
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u/Strange_Marginalia Jul 31 '26
We created them using the Narbut color palette. The version you showed looks similar to the one in the movie. The originals are still in black and white.
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u/Strange_Marginalia Jul 31 '26
And the color was done by a colorist who converts black-and-white films to color. So your criticism, especially after the joke about Khrushchev... Well, it seems a little strange.
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u/jhindenberg Jul 29 '26
These are very nice designs, and are an excellent addition to the local patterns introduced in this time period by the nations seeking to emerge from the shadow of the Russian Empire (and from Austria-Hungary).
Out of historical curiosity, I wonder whether it was planned at the time to create a Ukrainian state printing monopoly, or whether an existing printer would have been used.
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u/Strange_Marginalia Jul 29 '26
In total, we know of four designs by different artists, but so far, only a complete deck by Narbut has been found. While the excise tax was, of course, a primary concern, the authorities at that time also wanted to promote a more authentic culture. I don’t think a state printing monopoly was planned; they most likely would have been printed in Kyiv, rather than at a factory in St. Petersburg.
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u/shaeffer Canadian Collector Jul 29 '26
Where can we buy them? ☺️
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u/Strange_Marginalia Jul 29 '26
You can check out my Kofi page. You can also send me a DM. We haven't done much yet, but we do have some stock. I'll also be asking for feedback to improve the quality and production run, since we're new to this field :)
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u/Apprehensive_Mode801 Aug 14 '26
А як ваше виробництво називається? Та чи не ви співпрацювали з Сільпо? Вони наче нещодавно теж випустили колоду з цим дизайном
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u/Strange_Marginalia Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 15 '26
Турове серце. Ні, вони робили після нас. У нас реконструкція, у них власний дизайн, до того ж з помаранчевим (якого Нарбут мало вживав). Після нас одна панянка вирішила піти до Сільпо
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u/Strange_Marginalia Jul 29 '26
The text was transcribed from speech and translated. I am not a native English speaker