Travels with Toby McCutcheon

Part 3 - Large Photo Scans

Part 1
Part 2

Stuck loose in the notebook was a 1937 card from New York
(both sides shown)

and two playing cards
I guess the Jack of Hearts might be an obvious choice,
and the other appears to be the "Ace of Wands" tarot card.

And, I got this message from a fan of my site with additional info...

October 3, 2024
Dear JD,

I've just discovered your site, and wanted to thank you sincerely for your great work. It really warms my heart to see so much of our history and culture so lovingly preserved!

I was reading through your Travels with Toby's scrapbook and when I got to the final photo, you mentioned it seemed like a tarot card for the ace of wands.
It's actually a Spanish playing card: it's called "as de bastos," and you can see it in this Wikipedia's picture (lower left corner).

They are used for playing card games in Spain and Latin America. Since there's a 1936 postcard of Gibraltar in the scrapbook, I'm guessing that Angus' and Toby's travels took them to Spain sometime and that's where Angus got the deck. Or maybe it was in Cuba or Honduras, Spanish cards are also in use there, but the design is identical to the one I own (I'm from Spain), so I'm guessing they got it here.

My guess is that Angus selected the ace of wands for its suggestive shape. The expression "as de bastos" can be used to refer to the penis.

I thought you might like to have this little mystery unveiled. Thank you, again, so much for all your lovely work.

Warm regards,
A queer high-school teacher who watches "Pride" (2014) with her English as a Foreign Language students every school year.