What's Trump? Trump Indicators From the Collection of Joan Schepps on display at the Wistariarhurst Museum in Holyoke, MA. Joan Schepps will exhibit her collection of Trump Indicators and Bridge Memorabilia at the Wistariarhurst Museum in Holyoke, MA. The Exhibition will be on display November 20, 2005 to January 23, 2006. The exhibit will trace the history of bridge from Victorian times to the present with a special gallery devoted to her collection of Trump Indicators which is the foremost collection in the United States. Museum web page (click on "History Exhibits") to see part of the display online.     Opening Reception  - 11/20/05 12-4 p.m. Everyone is invited.             Duplicate Bridge - 1:30 to 5 pm Game held in the Music Room - $5 Helen Pawlowski, President of WMBA, is directing   Bridge reservations recommended Museum (413) 322-5660  Tours of the Mansion - Coffee and Refreshments Wistariahurst Museum              Gallery Hours  Saturday, Sunday, Monday 12-4 P.M. 238 Cabot Street, Holyoke, MA 01040 www.wistariahurst.org DIRECTIONS:   From I-91 North or South:  Take Exit 16 (Route 202) If you are traveling North on I-91 bear right off exit ramp, if you are traveling South on I-91 bear left off the exit ramp.  After the sixth light Wistariarhurst is on the right hand side at the corner of Beech and Cabot Streets. Trump Indicators were used in the game of Whist, and in early forms of Bridge. They were placed on the table as a reminder of the trump suit, and were in evidence throughout the game. In Whist, trump was decided by the cut of the cards. Because there was no bidding in Whist, it was easy to forget the trump suit. Many Trump Indicators are double-faced so the trump suit shows on both sides. A lesser-known function of some Trump Indicators is that they were sometimes used to designate the next dealer. Trump Indicators come in the form of dogs, cats, birds, pigs, monkeys, ballerinas, policemen, witches, flappers, golfers, soccer players, devils, windmills, castles, cartoon characters, cubes and everything else. The variety is endless. The pieces are small, whimsical, and colorful and they all move. What they all have in common is that somewhere, each displays the symbols of the four suits of playing cards: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs and sometimes No Trump and each has a moveable part that indicates trump. These devices date from the late 1800s to the early 1930s. The earlier ones have only four suits as No Trump did not exist in Whist, but only came into being in early versions of Bridge around the turn of the century. Other ways to date Trump Indicators include the material from which they were made: celluloid or bakelite, or the style of design: Victorian, Art Deco, Folk Art, or by the popular characters portrayed at the time, such as Jiggs, W.C. Fields, or Betty Boop. It is always difficult to exactly date Trump Indicators, except for English sterling ones which bear a mark.   (Click on images to the right to enlarge)   Always attracted to anything with a playing card motif, Joan found her first Trump Indicator about 20 years ago at the Brimfield Antique Show. She had no idea what the object was and neither did the dealer – but it was irresistible. It turned out to be a Trump Indicator and with that a collection was born. With nearly 600 pieces, Joan has one of the most diverse collections of these objects in the world.   Trump indicators command respectable prices and have an avid audience of bidders on the eBay auction site. One crafted by Cartier was shown in the Cartier Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1997. Another was in the Pamela Harriman estate at Sotheby’s Auction house, perhaps even used by her father-in-law, Winston Churchill. Trump indicators are mentioned in the official Encyclopedia of Bridge and have truly come of age as a collectible.   Joan Schepps, a resident of Holyoke, MA, has the foremost collection of Trump Indicators in the United States.  This collection has been exhibited at museums, universities, the World Bridge Olympiad, bridge tournaments and antique shows.  It has also been the subject of numerous bridge and antique publications, newspapers, and journals, and has been featured on television.  Joan is a Silver Life Master.