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The '''ace of spades''' (also known as the '''spadille''' and '''Death Card''' <ref>[http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=spadille "Spadille" in Merriam-Webster] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019173251/http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=spadille |date=2015-10-19 }}</ref>) is traditionally the highest and most valued card in the deck of playing cards in English-speaking countries. The actual value of the card varies from game to game.<ref>[http://www.psywarrior.com/DeathCardsAce.html Death Cards - Psychological Operations<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715120241/http://www.psywarrior.com/DeathCardsAce.html |date=2014-07-15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newtscards.com/secret_weapon_death_playing_cards.asp |title=The Tarot Death Card |accessdate=2009-02-11 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226120913/http://www.newtscards.com/secret_weapon_death_playing_cards.asp |archivedate=2007-12-26 |df= }}</ref>

==Design==
The ornate design of the ace of spades, common in packs today, stems from the 17th century, when James I and later Queen Anne imposed laws requiring the ace of spades to bear an insignia of the printing house. Stamp duty, an idea imported to England by Charles I, was extended to playing cards in 1711 by Queen Anne and lasted until 1960.<ref name="White">{{Citation|title=A Brief History of Playing Cards|last=Knuckle|first=White|url=http://www.whiteknucklecards.com/history/briefhistory.html|accessdate=November 22, 2013}}</ref><ref name="Hughes">{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=E |title=The English Stamp Duties, 1664-1764 |year=2004 |publisher=English Historical Review |page=245 |volume=56, no.222 (April 1941)}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Schott's"/>

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.<ref name="Schott's">{{cite book |last=Schott |first=Ben |authorlink= Ben Schott |title=Schott's Sporting, Gaming & Idling Miscellany |year=2004 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |location=London |isbn=0-7475-6924-X |page=62 |chapter=Card Tax & The Ace of Spades}}</ref> The ace of spades is thus used to show the card manufacturer's information.

The exact design of the ace card was so important, it eventually became the subject of design patents and trademarking. For example, on December 5, 1882, George G. White was granted US design patent US0D0013473<ref>{{cite web|url=http://patimg2.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=D0013473&SectionNum=1&IDKey=31F8B0976730|title=Patent Images|website=patimg2.uspto.gov}}</ref> for his design. His ace design was adorned with male and female figures leaning onto the spade from either side.

==War==
{{refimprove section|date=December 2016}}
[[File:OperationBaker1967Vietcongaceofspades.ogv|thumb|right|US Army footage from 'Operation Baker' 1967 showing US troops putting aces of spades in the mouths of dead VietCong/NLF (can be seen 1:53 min:sec & 2:34 min:sec into the video footage) ]] 
The ace of spades has been employed, on numerous occasions, in the theater 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 helmet. 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 easy 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, etc.

Some twenty years later, a folk legend about the ace of spades being used by American Soldiers during the Vietnam War was popularized. Supposedly, US troops believed that Vietnamese traditions held the symbolism of the spade to mean death and ill-fortune and in a bid to frighten and demoralize Viet Cong soldiers, it was common practice to mockingly leave an ace of spades on the bodies of killed Vietnamese and even to litter the forested grounds and fields with the card.{{cn|date=December 2016}} This custom was said to be so effective that the United States Playing Card Company was asked by Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment to supply crates of that single card in bulk. The plain white tuck cases were marked "Bicycle Secret Weapon", and the cards were deliberately scattered in villages and in the jungle during raids.<ref>[http://www.newtscards.com/secret_weapon_death_playing_cards.asp Ace of Spades or Secret Weapon Death Playing Cards at Newt's Playing Cards<!--Bot generated title-->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226120913/http://www.newtscards.com/secret_weapon_death_playing_cards.asp |date=December 26, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.bicyclecards.com/article/our-history/ |website=Bicycle Playing Cards |accessdate=14 December 2018}}</ref> The ace of spades, while not a symbol of superstitious fear to the Viet Cong forces, 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.{{cn|date=December 2016}}

More recently, in 2003 a deck of most-wanted Iraqi playing cards was issued to US 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 that card bore his image.

==Idioms==
Various idioms involving the ace of spades include, "black as the ace of spades," which may refer either to color, race, (lack of) morality, or (lack of) cleanliness in a person.<ref>Gandhi, Lakshmi, [https://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/09/19/224183763/is-it-racist-to-call-a-spade-a-spade "Is It Racist To 'Call a Spade a Spade'?"], ''Codeswitch'', National Public Radio, September 23, 2013 (retrieved June 14, 2014).</ref>
{{efn|For an example of the card referring to race, see Aaron McGruder, ''Public Enemy #2: An All-New ''Boondocks'' Collection'' (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005), front cover.}}

There is the French expression ''fagoté comme l'as de pique''—that is, "(badly) dressed like the ace of spades."<ref>"As", ''[https://archive.org/details/cassellsfrenchen00bake Cassell's New French Dictionary]'' (5th ed., 1951).</ref>

==In Unicode==
* {{unichar|1F0A1|PLAYING CARD ACE OF SPADES}} is part of the playing cards in Unicode

==See  ==
* Richard Harding, hanged in London for forgery of the duty stamp on the ace of spades and knowingly selling playing cards with the same in 1805.
* Black Spot (''Treasure Island'')
* List of poker hand nicknames

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

* {{wipe|Ace of spades}} (Original source)
{{commons category|Aces of Spades}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140715120241/http://www.psywarrior.com/DeathCardsAce.html The Death Card]

{{Playing cards}}
{{Superstitions}}

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[[Category:Playing cards]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Superstitions]]
[[Category:Cultural aspects of death]]

{{Sourceattribution|Ace of spades|1}}