An Ace of Spades playing card.

The Ace of Spades is commonly thought of as the highest-ranking card in the deck of playing cards, although the actual value of the card varies from game to game. Image File history File links Aceofspades. ... Image File history File links Aceofspades. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

Design

The ornate design of the Ace of Spades, common in packs today, stems from the 18th Century, when certain duties on playing cards were exacted by the monarchy. Stamp duty, an idea imported to England by William III, was extended to playing cards in 1711; this taxation lasted until 1960. (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Some typical modern playing cards. ... Stamp duty is a form of tax that is levied on documents. ... William III of England (The Hague, 14 November 1650 – Kensington Palace, 8 March 1702; also known as William II of Scotland and William III of Orange) was a Dutch aristocrat and a Protestant Prince of Orange from his birth, Stadtholder of the main provinces of the Dutch Republic from 28... 1711 (MDCCXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Over the years a number of methods were used to show that duty had been paid. From 1712 onwards, one of the cards in the pack, usually the Ace of Spades, was marked with a hand stamp. In 1765 hand stamping was replaced by the printing of official Ace of Spades by the Stamp Office, incorporating the royal coat of arms. In 1828 the Duty Ace of Spades (known as 'Old Frizzle') was printed to indicate a reduced duty of a shilling had been paid. // Events Treaty of Aargau signed between Catholic and Protestants. ... 1765 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1828 (MDCCCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Before decimalisation in 1971, a shilling had a value of 12d (old pence), and was equal to 1/20th of a pound: there were 240 (old) pence to the pound. ...

The system was changed again in 1862 when official threepenny duty wrappers were introduced and although the makers were free to use whatever design they wanted, most chose to keep the ornate Ace of Spades that is popular today. 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The threepence, pronounced thruppence, was a denomination of currency, used by various jurisdictions in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, until decimalisation of the pound sterling and Irish pound. ...

War

The Ace of Spades has been employed, on numerous occasions, in the theatre of war. In the Second World War, the soldiers of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the American 101st Airborne Division were marked with the spades symbol painted on the sides of their helmets. In this capacity, it was used to represent good luck, due to its fortunate connotations in card playing. All four card suits were used for ease of identification of regiments within the airborne division following the confusion of a large scale combat airborne operation. Battalions within the regiments were denoted with tic marks or dots, marked from top clockwise; Headquarters at the twelve o'clock position, 1st Battalion at the three o'clock, et cetera. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... During World War II, the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (506th PIR) was a regiment of the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army. ... The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)—nicknamed the “Screaming Eagles”—is an airborne division of the United States Army primarily trained for air assault operations. ...

Some twenty years later, the Ace of Spades was again used by American soldiers — this time as a psychological weapon in the Vietnam War. US troops erroneously believed that Vietnamese ancient traditions held the symbolism of the spade to mean death and ill-fortune and in a bid to scare away NLF soldiers without firefight, it was common practice to leave an Ace of Spades on the bodies of killed Vietnamese and even to litter the forested grounds and fields with the card. This custom was erroneously believed to be so effective, that the Bicycle Playing Cards company was asked to supply crates of that single card in bulk. The crates were often marked with "Bicycle Secret Weapon". [1] Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Bicycle Playing Cards have been manufactured by the United States Playing Card Company since 1885. ...

The Ace of Spades, while not a symbol of superstitious fear to the VC, did help the morale of American soldiers. It was not unheard of for US soldiers and Marines to stick this card in their helmet band as a sort of anti-peace sign.

More recently, in 2003 a deck of Most-wanted Iraqi playing cards issued to U.S. soldiers during Operation Iraqi Freedom; each card had the picture of a wanted Iraqi official on it. Saddam Hussein got the nickname "Ace of Spades" as his was the face which adorned that card. Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 2003 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Saddam Hussein as the Ace of Spades. ... The subject of this article is the 2003 invasion of Iraq. ... Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq and Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council from 1979 until his overthrow by US forces in 2003. ...

Ace of Spades in Popular Culture

• The heavy metal band Motörhead's most famous song (and album of the same title) is named after the Ace of Spades.
• In Robert Louis Stevenson's story "The Suicide Club" (1878), the Ace of Spades functions as the "sign of death" within a secret society whose members commit "suicide" by submitting to be killed, if they draw the Ace of Spades from a pack of 52 cards during a club meeting, by another member drawing the Ace of Clubs.
• In the film Toy Story 2, Mr. Potato Head and Hamm the pig, play a card game composed of Ace of Spades cards. This comes before Woody had a dream that his child owner Andy Davis abandons him for being broken. Woody falls in a vortex full of Aces of Spades, falls through one of the spades, and lands in a trash can under a spade-shaped beam of light.
• The Ace of Spades is featured in the end of George Orwell's Animal Farm when Mr. Pilkington and Napoleon the pig play the card against each other during a card game and start to argue.
• In the episode Pray Anything of The Simpsons, traffic reporter Arnie Pie claims that local reporter Kent Brockman's soul is as black as the Ace of Spades.
• The phrase black as the ace of spades is very commonly used, referring to objects, the sky at night, or to black people that are extremely dark.
• Luke Cage considered calling himself "The Ace Of Spades" before choosing "Power Man" after a victorious encounter with Iron Man.
• A blood-stained Ace of Spades is a symbol in the 2003 film Shade.
• There is also a conservative blog called Ace of Spades HQ
• The night Cliff Burton of the band Metallica died, he and Kirk Hammett drew cards to see who slept where. Cliff picked the Ace of Spades, won and chose Hammett's bed and ended up flying through the window when the tour bus hit black ice.^[1]
• The Ace through Ten of Spades serve as the pattern for several iterations of the DC Comics super-villainous Royal Flush Gang.
• In the popular game called "Okonkwo" or "Scat", the ace of spades has been nicknamed as the misfiring gun. The misfiring gun originated from the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
• The luxury Champagne brand Armand de Brignac was nicknamed "Ace of Spades" by Jay-Z in his song "Show Me What You Got".
• JAKQ Dengeki Tai's Red Ranger is called "Spade Ace".
• In the game Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, General Choi Song is represented as the Ace of Spades in the most-wanted deck of 52.
• The Character Hot Flashes, in the Wünderland War toy series "the Symptoms" is shown holding out an ace of spades.
• In The Book "The Burn Journals", the main charecter starts a religion where the "Ace of Spades" is God.

Motörhead are a Grammy Award-winning British heavy metal band formed in 1975 by bassist, singer and songwriter Lemmy (real name Ian Kilmister), who has remained the sole constant member. ... For the 1988 live single, see Ace of Spades (song; live) Ace of Spades ( ) is a song by the heavy metal band Motörhead. ... Ace of Spades is the fourth album by the British speed metal band Motörhead. ... Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis (Balfour) Stevenson (November 13, 1850–December 3, 1894), was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of Neo-romanticism in English literature. ... Toy Story 2 is a CGI animation film and the sequel to Toy Story, and the third Disney / Pixar feature film, which featured the adventures of a group of toys that come to life when humans are not around to see them. ... Image:Mr. ... This is a list of characters from the Disney/Pixar films, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 3. ... This is a list of characters from the Disney/Pixar films, Toy Story, Toy Story 2. ... This is a list of characters from the Disney/Pixar films, Toy Story, Toy Story 2. ... Vortex created by the passage of an aircraft wing, revealed by coloured smoke A vortex (pl. ... Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903[1][2] – 21 January 1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. ... Animal Farm is a novel by George Orwell, and is regarded in the literary field as one of the most famous satirical allegories of Soviet totalitarianism. ... Spoiler warning: Mr. ... Napoleon is a dick fictional character in George Orwells Animal Farm. ... Pray Anything is the tenth episode of the fourteenth season of The Simpsons. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Luke Cage, born Carl Lucas and once called Power Man, is a Marvel Comics superhero. ... At least two comic book characters have been called Power Man: Luke Cage, a Marvel Comics superhero, briefly adopted the name Power Man. ... Iron Man (Anthony Edward Tony Stark) is a fictional comic-book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. ... The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. ... Shade is a 2003 neo-noir crime drama starring Stuart Townsend, Gabriel Byrne, Thandie Newton, Jamie Foxx, Roger Guenveur Smith, Melanie Griffith and Sylvester Stallone. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Ace of Spades HQ, Ace of Spades, or AoS is a conservative and libertarian weblog and warblog created in 2003. ... Clifford Lee Burton (February 10, 1962 – September 27, 1986) was a bass guitarist, best known for his work with the thrash/heavy metal band Metallica from 1982-86. ... Metallica is a Grammy Award-winning American heavy metal/thrash metal band formed in 1981[1] and has become one of the most commercially successful musical acts of recent decades. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company. ... The Royal Flush Gang are fictional characters in DC comics. ... For other uses, see Things Fall Apart (disambiguation). ... Front label of a bottle of Armand de Brignac. ... Jay-Z (aka the Jigga, HOV and Hova, born Shawn Carter on December 4, 1970 in Brooklyn, New York) is an African American rapper/hip hop artist and record label executive; one of the most popular and successful rappers of the late 1990s and early 2000s. ... J.A.K.Q. Dengeki Tai J.A.K.Q. Dengeki Tai ), translated as J.A.K.Q. Blitzkrieg Squad is the second Sentai series. ... Wünderland War is the name of a designer toy company, owned and operated by Vinnie Fiorello (Drummer and Lyricist of the band Less Than Jake) The company Produces Unique limeted run Vinyl toys, clothes and other collectables, most are limeted to anything from 100 to 2000. ...

References

1. ^ Bang Your Head by David Konow, page 249, ISBN 0-609-80732-3

External links

• The Ace of Spades as the Death Card