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A deck from 1470

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A deck from 1470
« on: June 18, 2015, 01:13:27 PM »
 

variantventures

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In 1937 W. Schreiber published a catalog of 14th and 15th Century playing cards.  The book was republished in 1968.  Among the cards featured was a deck from around 1470.  This deck was in the collection of Mr. Alvin W. Krech and consisted of a single sheet that contained the entire deck.  The deck is in the suits of hearts, leaves, bells, and acorns.  These are standard suits for central Europe.  The courts are unusual in that there are four court cards: a mounted king (male), a seated queen (female), and an ober (over) and unter (under) of each suit.  Normally there would be three court cards and they are predominantly male.  They are also, typically clothed.  Nudity is not unknown and has a long, long tradition in playing cards but the nudity of some of the figures is part of what sets this deck apart.  You can see the sheet below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B15SAMYZtejMb1hpZVVvRUNJa2s/view?usp=sharing
Photo taken from Schweizer Spielkarten by Mr. Detlef Hoffman.

Shortly after the sheet was cataloged by Mr. Schreiber it was lost.  I've been trying to track it down without any success.  The odds are the sheet was sold to another private collector when the Krech family was apparently liquidating assets shortly before WWII.  You'll note the deck has no 10s or aces.  The lack of aces is pretty standard.  In German and Swiss decks of the time the two or the ten frequently took over the functions of the ace.  Tens, however, are pretty standard in German/Swiss decks and it's unusual to find a deck without them.  Was there a second sheet to this deck?  Probably not, but I can't rule out the possibility.  In any case it's just another of the little details that sets this deck apart.

In 2005, or thereabouts, Mr. Jorge Kelman of The Guild of Saynt Luke undertook to recreate this deck using the techniques of the period.  He handcarved wood plates, manufactured his own paper, made his own pigments, and produced a limited run of these cards.  Each deck was handmade from start to finish.  You can see one of his decks for sale here:

http://www.spielkartenonline-shop.de/en/non-standard-e-k/2106-guild-of-saynt-luke-wk-14553.html
European re-seller of collector playing cards.

In 2014 I was talking with Mr. Kelman, who was kind enough to address my fumbling efforts to re-create card decks, and he sent me an old proof sheet done with a different paper and different pigments.  It had the entire courts and most of the twos.  For me this was an amazing gift.  Printer's cast-offs are the primary source of information about early decks and having one of my own, even a modern one... That print is framed and on the wall of my bedroom.  I had the opportunity to buy one of Mr. Kelman's decks and, because of financial constraints, passed it up.  I'm currently trying to convince my wife I need to buy the one for sale above. :)

But because I take printer's cast-offs and attempt to re-create decks from them, I gave it a shot with the sheet that Mr. Kelman had sent me.  You can see my efforts below.  I'm not selling these decks, I'm just sharing this.  I made a copy on modern cardstock for myself and another to send to Mr. Kelman and that's all.


Image on Facebook of my copy of Mr. Kelman's work.

I used the arrangement provided by the original proof sheet.  I used Mr. Kelman's artwork in all cases but I know my arrangements of the pip cards differ from his.  I kept the original color of the paper he was experimenting with but, as you can readily see, his finished product was done on a paper which was much lighter in color.  Papers of the time were sized and smoothed with a mixture of starch and chalk and even a mass produced product like playing cards was probably printed on relatively smooth paper.

This is a really nice deck and I'm glad to have even a cheap reproduction of an excellent reproduction to play with.
 

Re: A deck from 1470
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2015, 02:37:55 PM »
 

Worst Bower

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Great find. The missing 10s are the weirdest thing about them but having four courts isn't. There are other 15th (or even 16th) century German cards with the four courts of king, queen, ober, and unter:

http://cards.old.no/1440-hofjagdspiel/

http://cards.old.no/1500-pw/

http://cards.old.no/1535-schaufelein/
 

Re: A deck from 1470
« Reply #2 on: June 18, 2015, 03:16:17 PM »
 

SwissArmyTenor

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Slightly erotic with one of the ladies represented honking one of her breasts!
« Last Edit: June 18, 2015, 03:18:20 PM by SwissArmyTenor »
"Peace if possible, but truth at any rate."  Martin Luther

"When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth."  Peter
 

Re: A deck from 1470
« Reply #3 on: June 18, 2015, 06:19:59 PM »
 

variantventures

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Ulrike Worner refers to this as 'the censored deck'.  Apparently because of a belief that the missing unters and obers were cut out to censor them.
 

Re: A deck from 1470
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2016, 07:12:26 PM »
 

huck

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In 1937 W. Schreiber published a catalog of 14th and 15th Century playing cards.  The book was republished in 1968.  Among the cards featured was a deck from around 1470.  This deck was in the collection of Mr. Alvin W. Krech and consisted of a single sheet that contained the entire deck.  The deck is in the suits of hearts, leaves, bells, and acorns.  These are standard suits for central Europe.  The courts are unusual in that there are four court cards: a mounted king (male), a seated queen (female), and an ober (over) and unter (under) of each suit.  Normally there would be three court cards and they are predominantly male.  They are also, typically clothed.  Nudity is not unknown and has a long, long tradition in playing cards but the nudity of some of the figures is part of what sets this deck apart.  You can see the sheet below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B15SAMYZtejMb1hpZVVvRUNJa2s/view?usp=sharing
Photo taken from Schweizer Spielkarten by Mr. Detlef Hoffman.

Shortly after the sheet was cataloged by Mr. Schreiber it was lost.  I've been trying to track it down without any success.  The odds are the sheet was sold to another private collector when the Krech family was apparently liquidating assets shortly before WWII.  You'll note the deck has no 10s or aces.  The lack of aces is pretty standard.  In German and Swiss decks of the time the two or the ten frequently took over the functions of the ace.  Tens, however, are pretty standard in German/Swiss decks and it's unusual to find a deck without them.  Was there a second sheet to this deck?  Probably not, but I can't rule out the possibility.  In any case it's just another of the little details that sets this deck apart.

There is a similar state with the 3 Rosenwald sheets.

2 of these 3 sheets have a similar composition, no tens and no Queens (instead of the Aces). The 3rd known sheet contains 21 Trionfi cards and 3 Queens.

The problem is discussed by Franco Pratesi at ...
http://trionfi.com/rosenwald-tarocchi-sheet (2011)
... and in a later article in Italian language at ..
http://www.naibi.net/a/516-rosen3-z.pdf (2016)
... which is translated and discussed at ...
http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1105

It's speculated, that there was a 4th sheet and all 4 sheets together formed a very early Minchiate-deck.
Further it is speculated, that this early Minchiate had only 96 cards instead of usually 97 for Minchiate.
Further it is speculated, that the 2 sheets produced also a normal deck with 48 cards (not 10s, no Queens)
... 3 sheets produced a Trionfi deck with possibly 69 cards
... 4 sheets produced a full Minchiate (96 cards)

The outfit of the pictures at the Rosenwald sheet is very poor, and the cards are very small. The impression is, that this deck was made for the low-price-market and that the production costs were kept as low as possible. A producer needed only 4 woodcut blocks to produce 3 different deck types (according the speculation).

An 48-cards-deck (not a sheet) was found in a museum of Assissi (later in private possession). It's said to be more or less identical to the 2 sheets cards, though made from a different woodcut block (variation in details). The 10s and Queens are also missing and the researchers were puzzled about the missing 10s
(info inside the mentioned discussion at ... http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1105&start=10#p18118  )

Regards
Huck