Thursday 13 March 2014

Turun Linna pelikortteja / Åbo slott spelkort (Piatnik)

Turun Linna pelikortteja / Åbo slott spelkort = "Turku castle" playing cards, Piatnik, 52c + 3

The present deck of playing cards is one of the more curious decks to emerge from Finland. The box proclaims, in two languages (Finnish and Swedish, respectively), "Turku castle playing cards". The court cards of this deck represent characters associated with the castle, which is also depicted on the backs of the cards.
http://www.kolumbus.fi/sackab/kgb/playing_cards/abo.html

. Note the court cards. Their indices are not made up of the initial letters of the courts, but numbers, viz: 11, 12 and 13. Perhaps the reason behind this is to accommodate for Finnish and Swedish speakers, who call the court cards by different names. Also note the font used for the indices; the court cards and aces use a more ornamental font than the pips, which use a simple sans-serif font.
 

The Joker ( top row, 1st from left) is Frans Hals'  Lute player. Also note the unusual shape of the cards; They are not perfectly rectangular, but are barrel shaped, bulging slightly in the middle.
 

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