Seven of Diamonds, from the Transparent Playing Cards series (N220) issued by Kinney Bros.

Seven of Diamonds, from the Transparent Playing Cards series (N220) issued by Kinney Bros.

Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Playing cards issued as trade cards from the series "Transparent Playing Cards" (N233), issued in 1888 to promote Kinney Bros. Cigarettes for Kinney Tobacco Company. Some card versos state that there are 52 cards included in the deck whereas other versos confirm the number at 53. Each card verso reads, "Hold to the light/ Read your fortune."

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Seven of Diamonds, from the Transparent Playing Cards series (N220) issued by Kinney Bros.Seven of Diamonds, from the Transparent Playing Cards series (N220) issued by Kinney Bros.Seven of Diamonds, from the Transparent Playing Cards series (N220) issued by Kinney Bros.Seven of Diamonds, from the Transparent Playing Cards series (N220) issued by Kinney Bros.Seven of Diamonds, from the Transparent Playing Cards series (N220) issued by Kinney Bros.

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.