this deck is the "prague" or "bohemian" pattern. In my opinion , this deck is one of the most charming of the german suited decks.
Note the rather crudely drawn lion on the ace of acorns ( 1st pic, 4th from left)
This deck is similar to to the franconian pattern,
(http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2012/01/franconian-pattern-ass.html)
and bears similarities to the Salzburg pattern
( http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/10/salzburger-bild-einfachdutche.html)
EDIT; As pointed out by Marnen, Jednohlavé means "Single headed".
Isn't that "jednohlavé" ("single head")? I think you left out the L.
ReplyDeleteExcellent observation!
ReplyDeleteThank-you for sharing this. It is very hard to find information on these decks. I have a very old version of this deck that has been passed down in my family for three generations. The artwork is a bit more crude and I had always assumed that the creature on the Ace of Acorns is the Devil as he is red and resembles Czech depictions of the devil that I have seen. Also, he has BLUE eyes in my deck...that's an interesting change that was made in the newer deck! The deck is nearly identical save for a few interesting changes. My devil has his left paw on a shield that has a Fleur-de-lis symbol on it. The shield on the Ace of Bells has a Cockatrice or Basilisk and a lion. And there was nothing riding the dog in the eight of bells! Very interesting. I appreciate the patriotism of the twin tailed lion but I feel that it takes a bit of the mystique away from the deck when they replaced all mythical depictions with the same lion! Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteThe deck that your family has so carefully preserved sounds interesting. I have shown another deck of the Prague pattern on this blog ( see https://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2017/01/prague-pattern-bonaparte.html). How does this deck compare with yours?
ReplyDelete