"cego"( animal tarot) , ASS

"cego"( animal tarot) , ASS . 54c.
( if'you dont know what a tarock deck is, see http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2012/02/tarock-ass.html. )
Sometime in the 18thc, a german maker tried to revamp the tarock/ot deck. Instead of putting the standard imagery in the trumps, he replaced it with a series of animals, and called it the tiertarock ( ger. - 'animal tarot/tarock".)
  Now, several patterns to this theme developed, but eventualy, a pattern known to some as the "alder-cego" won out, and is the deck that is shown here.
The deck has exactly the same composition as an ordianary tarock deck, save that the rural images on the trumps have been replaced by those of animals. The trumps sometimes have a sort of contrast of the animals between them, most often male/feamle  (the 21 has a cock on one side and a hen on the other. )
 The sküs ( fool) is placed here with the 21, as in the game of cego, it is the highest card.

Tarock ( ASS )

Tarock ( ASS ),"industrie und glück" 54c.
For an introduction to tarot decks, see; http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/11/on-tarot.html
When  tarot cards came into germany, the players decided to discardmost of the non -scoring pip cards in the deck , to make the game more interesting. The result of this is that the deck is shortened from 78 to 54 cards. The pip cards that remain are ;
in spades and clubs - 10, 9,8,7
in diamonds and hearts- 1 ( ace) , 2,3,4
The trumps and the court cards remain unchaged. 
Note the Jacks of clubs and diamonds. they carrry the maker's addresson their shields

 

Now, this pattern is known as the Industrie und glück ( "industry and luck") , or rural scenes tarock, the name coming from the text on trump II , aldough even this is known to vary sometimes, with "AUDACES FORTUNA JUVAT "( lat; "fortune favours the bold") or "SZERENCSE FEL !" ( hungarian ; "good luck") . Also note trump I, with the harlequin & columbine.

 Note the fool , Which is depicted as a harlequin, and is holding a smaller fool ( puppet?)



franconian pattern, ASS

Franconian pattern, ASS
The following pack is related to the Prague pattern and the barvarian pattern. Note the similarity of the Ober of leaves to the same card in the Salzburg pattern,

see also:

http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2012/01/jednohave-prague-pattern-piatnik.html

http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/11/schafkopf-bavarian-pattern-playing.html

http://anthonylesq.blogspot.com/2011/10/salzburger-bild-einfachdutche.html

Württemberg pattern , ASS altenburg

Württemberg pattern , 48 cards ( 2 x 24) , ASS altenburg.

The Württemberg pattern is somewhat of a hodge-podge. The court cards probably evolved from the courts of a Tarock ( german version of tarot) deck , hence the mounted obers in the deck ( tarot/tarock decks, needless to say, have knights).
The deck comes in two forms, the first, and less common form, is a normal 32- card deck , for playing skat, schafkopf ( sheepshead),  &c. The second, and more common form, ( shown here) is comprised of two 24-card decks united together, with the following ranks in each suit
Ace, King, Ober, Under , 10, 7
The curious ranking is because this deck is used to play the game of "binokel", in which the 10 and 7 hold special powers. This game, which my American readers may know as "pinochle" used to be played with a pair of 32 card decks, till the players threw out the non-scoring ranks of eight and nine.
Note the following features:
1- The obers have their name written out in full on them
2-The under of bells carries a knapsack
3- The aces are decorated with pictures of food and drink.

"preference" ( vienna large crown pattern)

"preference"by ASS altenburger .32 c, no indexes

Preference is a the name of a game played in Austria & Russia. The cards that you see here are of the viennese large crown patern, a highly idosyncratic pattern of that country.
Interesting features to look out are the Jack of clubs, holding an impliment that  has been described as a "carpet beater" ,but I think is actually a sort of spear. Also note the king of spades, who bears the name of the company on a sash he is wearing.
the jack of hearts bears the company's address, "IN ALTENBERG" , split between the 2 flags he is holding. This pattern also comes in a 24- card form for playing schnapsen

saxony pattern cards, single vs double faced

The first deck shown is a traditional saxony patter, which is, in my opinion, the prettiest of the decks to come out of Germany.

the suit of bells (2nd picture) is particularly charming.
Note the Peeping Tom on the ace ( top row, 3rd card from left) 
on the 8 of bells ( 3rd pic, 2nd row, first card from the left), there is a depiction of chickens mating.
above them are strung some sausages. nice.....

sadly, this patern is almost extinct right now. if you buy a saxon pattern, today, you would end up with the "double faced "version...

when you compare the pictures, it is easy why this is called the double faced version.
aldough this version is admittedly easier to play with, it has lost some of the  detail, like the little pictures on the bottom of the cards, ( on the eight of bells, there are neither sausages nor trysting chickens) but still, some features remain (like the roman number X on tens, and the peeping tom on the ace of bells)