Travelling chinese chess/xiangqi set

[Magnetic chess set], 31/32 pieces.
( For a more thorough description of a Chinese chess set, see http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2013/07/chinese-chessxiangqi-set-butterfly-brand.html)

  The following magnetic Chinese chess set is extremely small, ( roughly 12x6 cm). This set is probably intended to be portable, as evidenced by it's small size, and the fact that the chessboard also doubles as a storage container for the chess pieces.  The pieces are magnetic, a necessity at this small scale.

A picture of the board. Note the missing green pawn. Unlike the "butterfly brand" chess set, this set uses red and green to distinguish the sides.

A closeup of the pieces. Unlike the butterfly brand set, the characters for the "cannon" pieces are written differently for opposing sides; 炮 for red, and 砲 for green. The characters for the "valet" pieces are also written differently, 仕 for red, and 士 for green.

 



Miniature cards ( English)

Miniature cards - anon ( english maker) , 53c. +joker
 
 Another miniature deck, probably from the 1940s-50s.It is ( apparently ) made in England. I wonder why this would be considered worth mentioning, as the deck is printed in a rather crude fashion; with some cards not aligned properly.
   However, it is a pretty little thing - observe the curious illustration on the back , depicting a pair of dogs on leashes, being walked as snow falls. The same design is reproduced on the wrapper
   Another curious feature is the black band that seperates the two halves of the courts. I thing that this was intended to be filled in with a customer's name (but given the poor quality of the printing , the name may not have been legible)
 Lastly, the deck contains a pair of two-of-diamonds. I have no knowlege how that card got there

joker, back,  and wrapper

the other side of the wrapper.

Miniature deck - Anon

Miniature deck- Anon , 52c.
 The miniature ( 4.5 x 2.8 cm) deck is somewhat of a mstery. The Desigin of the court cards indicates that the maker was imitating the English pattern, but there are many diffrernces. (see http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2012/03/international-pattern-part-i.html)

Miniature playing cards ( anon)

Miniature playing cards ( anon), 54c.
The following deck is of 54 cards , and it is so small that it is scarely conceivable that these cards not were used for anything other tha a showpiece. Nevertheless, the maker managed to reproduce, within the space of  22 by 17 millimeters faithfully, evey detail of the standard english pattern.
Note the jokers. evidently, the maker derived the illustrations form through the looking-glass

miniature "tell pattern" piatnik

miniature "tell pattern", by piatnik. 32 cards.
a pleasing miniature of the "william tell"/ four seasons pattern.
these cards are harldly used in Germany at all, instead being used in central europe.
Note the pip cards. they have little scenes from the wtell legend, like the death of Tell's archenemy, gessleer, on the 7 of hearts.
for a Hungarian version of this pattern, see: http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/10/magyar-kartya.html

Paris pattern , single faced

theese charming cards are from a divination set called "votre destin par les cartes"
 it comes with a bored, with instruction for spreading the cards, & a pair of miniature  decks of cards.
the cards are single faced, and nowhere on them is the mark of any maker, aldough it is printed by Dusserre of paris.

things to note:
I- the fan held on the queen of clubs. this feature disappeared when the pattern became double faced.
II- the little dog on the jack of spades. as above.
III-the king of diamonds is shown in profile, and has a medallion on him with the head of a cock.
IV- this feature is the most interesting one of this pattern, namely, the picture cards are named after,  historical personalities ( viz: david as the king of spades, caesar as that of diamonds, and lancelot as jack of clubs.

see also: http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/10/paris-pattern-cards.html