I thought I would share what I believe to be some new information concerning the Spanish playing card decks listed as SX12 and SX14 in the Exposition and World's Fair souvenir chapter in the Hochman/Dawson encyclopedia. The year shown for each listing states that they date from 1893, which was the year of the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, but I do not believe this to be the case based upon notes from the April 15, 1897 meeting of the Price Committee of USPC whose members consisted of John Omwake, Stanley A. Cohen and R.H. McCutcheon. In this meeting, two resolutions were put into effect concerning the introduction of two new brands of Spanish playing cards as follows:

Resolution # 69, Cincinnati, April 15, 1897
Resolved, that Branch 1 be authorized to engrave plates and make a new brand of Spanish cards called No. 71, Los Leones, same to be listed in Class "C."

Resolution # 70, Cincinnati, April 15, 1897
Resolved, that Branch 1 be authorized to engrave faces and backs for a new brand of Spanish cards, for Colombia and other South American countries, same to be called No. 81, Colombiano, and listed in Class "C."

This would seem to be all of the proof needed to certify the origins of these two brands of Spanish playing cards. Apparently, the creation of new brands of playing cards takes some time before they can be offered for sale, thus, it is not surprising to see that both of these brands are not listed in the USPC price list for the season beginning on July 1, 1897 but they do appear in the price list for the following season beginning on January 1, 1898 in the Class C section at $42 per gross which is the same for all of the other plain edge brands in this class with the exception of Capitol # 188, Skat # 2 and Gaigel # 3 which were cheaper.

The description for the Colombiano # 81 (Spanish Cards) from the January 1, 1898 Wholesale Price List reads as follows:
"Specially engraved faces, after the style used in Colombia and adjacent countries; genuine parchment stock; possesses all the finest Spanish qualities; permanent colors; made in three sizes - 2 7/16 x 3 11/16, 2 3/8 x 3 5/8 and 2 1/4 x 3 1/2; hard surface finish; full packs, 48 cards."
The middle size is referred to as Barcelona size.

Pictured below are the front and back of the original box for SX12, the back design from the deck in my collection which took me many years to find, and the two of Earthen Bowls which is most interesting because it provides the name of the designer of this deck, Eduardo Espinosa Guzman, who appears to have been a Colombian printer although I would recommend that those interested readers with superior research skills to mine try to unearth some more information about him, perhaps, even enough to write a separate article. The back design is known as "Tangle" and was available in Black, Blue and Red.

The top and bottom sides of the OB read as follows:
 "Premiado en Cuantas" on top followed by "Exposiciones se ha Presentado" on the bottom which, when combined into one sentence, roughly translates into "Awarded in many Expositions where it has been Presented."
One of the side panels reads "Superiores a los Mejores Naipes Espanoles" which translates into "Superior to the Best Spanish Playing Cards." The remaining side panel simply reads USPC in English. Although the back of the box reads "La Gran Exposicion Universal, Chicago", I believe that this refers to the fact that USPC was awarded medals at the 1893 World's Fair for their products at that time and not for this particular deck which did not exist then.

Given all of the above new information, it may be the case that both the SX12 and SX14 designations should be changed to new "US" designations now that neither of them is shown to be directly connected to the Columbian Exposition. Of course, this may create confusion where none currently exists but it would be a treatment similar to the former SR13 designation being given the new S84 designation once it was proven that that deck was not a souvenir made for the Great Northern Railway but was, instead, made as a souvenir of The Great Northwest.

SUBJECT  :  Mystery Piatnik deck I need help identifying.

I won this deck from a seller in England a couple of weeks ago. It is made by Ferdinand Piatnik & Sons, Vienna. I researched this deck for days before I broke down and bought it and researched for many days more, but I could find no reference online or in any of my books. It is a rather unusual deck (see photos below), especially for a Piatnik deck. From all the evidence I can gather, I am pretty sure it is an antique deck that I am dating as from the 1920s. But again, I searched everywhere and I can find no match for it, not anywhere online and not in the Fournier Museum books. I even searched all the Fournier entries, since the deck appears to be a recreation of an even earlier deck. No matches there, either. So, if anyone can identify this baby, I'd love some information on the Piatnik mystery deck.

2.) The cross-hatch pattern is usually called tartan or, in France, tarotee.

8.) These cards are from the Tuscan/Florentine pattern designed in the 19th century and that's still produced today. What you have is fairly old since it has 52 cards. These days, it only comes in 40 cards (no 8s, 9s, or 10s).

https://www.modiano.it/it/prodotto/toscane-rosso-150-anniversario/
https://shop.dalnegro.com/prodotto/toscane-pro/

SUBJECT  :  Mystery Piatnik deck I need help identifying.

I won this deck from a seller in England a couple of weeks ago. It is made by Ferdinand Piatnik & Sons, Vienna. I researched this deck for days before I broke down and bought it and researched for many days more, but I could find no reference online or in any of my books. It is a rather unusual deck (see photos below), especially for a Piatnik deck. From all the evidence I can gather, I am pretty sure it is an antique deck that I am dating as from the 1920s. But again, I searched everywhere and I can find no match for it, not anywhere online and not in the Fournier Museum books. I even searched all the Fournier entries, since the deck appears to be a recreation of an even earlier deck. No matches there, either. So, if anyone can identify this baby, I'd love some information on the Piatnik mystery deck.

So, here are the details I know about this deck :
1.) It is a 52-card poker type deck with French suits, and has an extra blank card. There were some early 20th century decks that came with a blank card to replace one that was lost or damaged.
2.) The card backs are a cross-hatch pattern in blue, a common backing for late 19th century to early 20th century decks.
3.) The card stock is heavy and solid and relatively rough, typical of many early 20th century decks, whereas a modern recreation deck would likely have a shiny surface on thinner card stock. This deck feels authentically old.
4.) The card color is a very pale eggshell color, typical of many 100 year old decks. A modern deck would likely be bright white for the background color.
5.) The card size is about 100 mm by 67 mm, which is bigger than the standard modern poker deck size.
6.) The Ace of Hearts has the Piatnik "mounted jockey" logo in black and white (no color), which puts it 1891 or after. 1891 is when they started using the horse and jockey logo.
7.) Strangely, the company logo says "Ferd. Piatnik e Figli S.A." and the trade mark horse and rider logo has the phrase "marca registrata". Turns out the "e Figli" (meaning "and sons") and "marca" phrases are both in Italian. And the "e Figli" is seen on several of the court cards. From the company history : In 1917 the Viennese parent company was turned into a family-owned joint stock enterprise under the name ?Erste ?sterreichische Spielkartenfabrik AG, Ferd. Piatnik & S?hne?.  So, you see the company name as F. Piatnik and Sons A.G. from 1917 to 1939 when the name was modified again. Possibly the "S.A." at the end of the Italian version of the company name was the Italian version of the A.G. If that is so, then it would place this deck from 1917 to 1939, but that is still speculation. On the World Web Playing Card Museum website, there is a selection of Piatnik logos from the 1917 to 1939 period when it was F. Piatnik and Sons A.G. , and the last one listed for 1939 is for one saying F. Piatnik e Figli S.A..
8.) The court figures are single ended (almost unknown for Piatnik decks, except for some Cartomancy decks), with figures in medieval dress. And the pips are ONLY in the upper left corner (no bottom right corner pip at all). These court cards are very reminiscent of the French costume decks from the 1840s to the 1860s. The court cards were built like these. So, even if this is an early 20th century deck, is appears to be a reproduction of a French deck from the 1850s or so.
9.) The four of diamonds card also has a very big and fancy company logo on it. Again, I could find no match for this unusual logo. But, on the World Web Playing Card Museum website they have examples of several big fancy Piatnik logos that look similar, with one of these having the A.G. on the end of it and another having the S.A. at the end. And I found an online auction for a Piatnk Skat deck with a similar large logo and the deck is dated as 1920.
10.) There is no 4-digit serial number below the logo, which you sometimes see on modern decks.

So, from all this evidence - the look and feel of the cards, the "S.A." which appears to place the deck between 1917 and 1939, the big fancy company logo on 4ofD, cross-hatch backs, etc. - I am dating the deck as circa the 1920s.

But again, I could find no exact matches for this deck anywhere. It's definitely unusual - an Austrian made deck, seemingly intended for the Itallian market and found in England. And the unusual court cards. Piatnik is still making historical recreation decks, buy they almost always have indices and pips in both corners. So, this court card formation seems to be VERY intentional.

If anyone can give me any information or proof of exactly what this deck is, I would greatly appreciate it.

I've gotten very interested in the early wide Congress 606 decks that have jokers that match the back of the cards.
They seem to have been published from 1898 to 1906.
If any you have any of them to sell (or trade), I'd love to hear from you.

Here's some info on where I am in collecting them:
https://www.amusedbyjokersami.com/2023/11/my-matching-congress-606-jokers.html

Here's some decks that I have to trade:
https://www.amusedbyjokersami.com/2023/11/vintage-decks-that-id-trade-away.html

Sheet has been updated. Check it out!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PHcAPk50kk7w-_zcA-JdiS0pn-pbOJzPWvWjc1BbYJY/edit?usp=sharing

eBay store can be found here: https://www.ebay.com/usr/imdan247