Playing Card Deck

Deck of Tian Jiu, 天九, or Heavens and Nines, playing cards. Rectangular cards with rounded corners. Backs red. Faces with black and red domino spots. Some cards with flowers in between printed in red and pale green. Ends of some of the cards have a wave-like motif. Tacky yellow coating.

From Culin publication: "No. 30 - From Chungch'ing (Chungking). Known as Fa p'ai, or "Flower cards." Three each of the twenty-one natural dominoes plain, and four each illuminated. The illumination is a spray of flowers, and is the same for each card. Total, 147. It is to be noted that all Chungking domino packs are usually put in the order of the dominoes, viz.: 6-6, 1-1, 4-4, 1-3 (3-3, 5-5 sic) 2-2, 5-6, 4-6, 1-6, 1-5; 3-6, 4-5, 2-6, 3-5, 2-5, 3-4, 2-3, 1-4, 2-4, 1-2."