Swap Cards and Card Sharks

A wood of snowdrops, a childhood favourite. Image: superminx

Today’s glorious weather instantly reminded me of summer holidays, and childhood, and, by a convoluted route, collecting swap cards. 

I had a huge collection of swap cards, and among my favourites (and every little girl that I knew) were the Sarah Kays. If you managed to swap an inferior card for one of those, you could be considered a serious trader, a force to be reckoned with. Holly Hobby cards on the other hand were second-rate, the poor man’s version of Sarah Kay. I disdained them. 

A selection of Sarah Kay cards. My sister Star would write amusing captions on the reverse, in the style of a family album: “Joseph and Deb on their first date”. Image: superminx

But I was not always so canny. When I first started out as a swap-carder, I fell into the hands of a card shark, a seven-year-old swindler who took advantage of my extreme youth (I was about five). She fast-talked me into swapping some covetable card for a gaudy piece of tinsel (possibly a playing card masquerading as a swap card). Luckily, one of my cousins was keeping an eye on me, and no sooner than she discovered the sting, she swooped upon the unhappy perpetrator and with much haranguing made her swap it back. After that I learned. 

See more in the Flickr group 1970s Vintage Swap Cards.