Ace of spades - wikipedia Ace of spades `` Ace of Spades '' redirects here. For other uses, see Ace of Spades ( disambiguation ). Ace of spades 1828 `` Old Frizzle '' The ace of spades ( also known as the spadille ) is traditionally the highest card in the deck of playing cards, at least in English - speaking countries. The actual value of the card varies from game to game. In legend and folklore, it is also known as the Death Card. Contents 1 Design 2 War 3 Idioms 4 See also 5 References 6 External links 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. 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. 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. 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 for his design. His ace design was adorned with male and female figures leaning onto the spade from either side. War This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( December 2016 ) Play media US Army footage from ' Operation Baker ' 1967 showing US troops putting Ace 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 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, 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. 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 crates were often marked with `` Bicycle Secret Weapon ''. 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. 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 can refer either to color or to race ), or alternatively a lack of cleanliness in a person and the French expression fagoté comme l'as de pique -- that is, `` ( badly ) dressed like the ace of spades. '' See also 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 Ace of Spades ( song ) - Motörhead 's famous hit single References Jump up ^ `` Spadille '' in Merriam - Webster Archived 2015 - 10 - 19 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Death Cards - Psychological Operations Archived 2014 - 07 - 15 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` The Tarot Death Card ''. Archived from the original on 2007 - 12 - 26. Retrieved 2009 - 02 - 11. Jump up ^ Knuckle, White, A Brief History of Playing Cards, retrieved November 22, 2013 Jump up ^ Hughes, E ( 2004 ). The English Stamp Duties, 1664 - 1764. 56, no. 222 ( April 1941 ). English Historical Review. p. 245. ^ Jump up to : Schott, Ben ( 2004 ). `` Card Tax & The Ace of Spades ''. Schott 's Sporting, Gaming & Idling Miscellany. London : Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 0 - 7475 - 6924 - X. Jump up ^ `` Patent Images ''. patimg2.uspto.gov. Jump up ^ Ace of Spades or Secret Weapon Death Playing Cards at Newt 's Playing Cards Archived December 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Gandhi, Lakshmi, `` Is It Racist To ' Call a Spade a Spade ' ? '', Codeswitch, National Public Radio, September 23, 2013 ( retrieved June 14, 2014 ) For an example of the latter, see Aaron McGruder, Public Enemy # 2 : An All - New Boondocks Collection ( New York : Three Rivers Press, 2005 ), front cover. Jump up ^ `` As '', Cassell 's New French Dictionary ( 5th ed., 1951 ). External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aces of Spades. The Death Card Playing cards Standard 52 - card deck Suit / rank Ace King Queen Jack 10 9 8 7 6 5 Spades ♠ Ace King Queen Jack 10 9 8 7 6 5 Hearts ♥ Ace King Queen Jack 10 9 8 7 6 5 Diamonds Ace King Queen Jack 10 9 8 7 6 5 Clubs ♣ Ace King Queen Jack 10 9 8 7 6 5 Other cards Blank Face card / Court card ( Knight, Ober, Unter ) Pip card ( Deuce, Weli ) Joker Card nicknames Stripped deck Talon Unicode Other suits German deck : Acorns Leaves Hearts Bells Swiss deck : Acorns Shields Roses Bells Latin deck : Cups Coins Batons Swords Superstition Main topics Amulet Evil eye Luck Omen Talismans Myth and ritual Lists List of superstitions List of lucky symbols List of unlucky symbols Sailors ' superstitions Theatrical superstitions Africa Buda Gris - gris Sampy Sleeping child Americas Ascalapha odorata Carranca Curupira Djucu Fortune cookie I'noGo tied White lighter myth Witch window Asia Superstition in India list Superstition in Pakistan Japanese superstitions Bhoot ( ghost ) Chhaupadi Churel Ghosts in Bengali culture Jackal 's horn Muhurta Navaratna Nazar battu Pichal Peri Puppy pregnancy syndrome Akabeko Kanai Anzen Maneki - neko Okiagari - koboshi Omamori Fan death Agimat Albularyo Barang Kulam Lihi Pagtatawas Pasma Usog Kuman Thong Palad khik Takrut Nang Kwak Curse of 39 Jin Chan Numbers in Chinese culture Russian traditions and superstitions Superstitions of Malaysian Chinese Europe Barbary macaques in Gibraltar Blarney Stone Cimaruta Cornicello Goodman 's Croft In bocca al lupo Kitchen witch Nazar Painted pebbles Rabbit rabbit rabbit Ravens of the Tower of London Spilling water for luck Troll cross Tycho Brahe days Witch post Wolfssegen General 11 : 11 4 ( Four - leaf clover, Tetraphobia ) 7 ( Seventh son of a seventh son ) 8 9 13 ( Friday the 13th, The Thirteen Club, Thirteenth floor, Triskaidekaphobia ) 108 111 666 ( Number of the Beast ) Ace of spades Auspicious wedding date Baseball superstition Bayern - luck Beginner 's luck Black cat Bread and butter Break a leg Chain letter Cooties Cramp - ring Curse Davy Jones ' Locker End - of - the - day betting effect Fear of frogs Fear of ghosts First - foot Flying Dutchman Four Eleven Forty Four Gambler 's conceit Good luck charm Groundhog Day Himmelsbrief Human sacrifice Jinx Klabautermann Knocking on wood Law of contagion Literomancy Lock of hair Maternal impression Miasma theory Mooncalf Need - fire Nelson Numismatic charm Oscar love curse Penny Powder of sympathy Rabbit 's foot Rainmaking The Scottish Play Ship sponsor Shoes on a table Sign of the horns Something old Spilling salt Susto Three on a match Threshold Toi toi toi Wishing well Witch ball Witching hour Related Apotropaic magic Astrology and science Coincidence Debunker Divination Folk religion Fortune - telling Magic and religion Magical thinking Numerology Perceptions of religious imagery in natural phenomena Post hoc ergo propter hoc Traditional medicine Urban legend Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ace_of_spades&oldid=838324566 '' Categories : Playing cards Superstitions Cultural aspects of death Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Articles needing additional references from December 2016 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from December 2016 All articles lacking reliable references Articles lacking reliable references from December 2016 Articles containing video clips Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Français 한국어 日本 語 Português Русский Türkçe Edit links This page was last edited on 26 April 2018, at 08 : 56 ( UTC ). 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Question: why did soldiers put cards in their helmets
Answer: as a sort of anti-peace sign