Showing posts with label william tell pattern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label william tell pattern. Show all posts

Sunday, 13 September 2015

Tell pattern , Bonaparte

(Tell pattern), Bonaparte, 32c +1

The following deck is made by Bonaparte, a Czechoslovakian company. It is based on the  "Tell pattern", but has several notable differences.
The first differnce is the lack of names. Most "tell pattern" decks name the court cards and aces. For example, the ace of leaves ( Top row, first card from left) is typically labelled ozsp/herbst , meaning autumn. 
The court cards in such decks are usually labelled, which is also absent in this deck. For example, the ober of acorns ( Bottom row, 3rd from left) is titled "William Tell". This is absent, but the card still depicts Tell-- The cross-bow he holds is Tell-ing! 

Apart from the differences above, the cards are quite similar to most patterns. The only differnce appears to be the use of more muted palate of colours. 
( compare http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2011/10/magyar-kartya.html  and http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2011/11/miniature-tell-pattern-piatnik.html )
 Comparisons between the present deck ( marked B) and a more typical deck, by Piatnik. 
(marked P)  The top row shows the court cards, and the differences are quite obvious. 
The makers seem to have removed all references to the William tell legend in the pip cards. For example, in the 8 of hearts, ( Bottom row, first pair from left), the Piatnik deck depicts a scene in the  William tell legend where he steers a boat across  a stormy lake. The Bonaparte deck shows a simple sailing ship. 
Although the scenes in the cards have been altered, the designers of the Bonaparte deck have decided to retain the theme of the cards. The 7 of bells ( First pair from left) depicts a parting couple, but the piatnik deck includes a child-- presumably Tell's son. The 7 of hearts ( second pair from left) instead of showing Gessler's death, shows a simple mounted figure. 



Sunday, 6 May 2012

William tell / Viennese large crown pattern ( Piatnik)

William tell / Viennese large crown pattern ( Piatnik) - 36c.

The following deck is a very curious deck. It is comprised of 2 patterns of playing cards, the Viennese large crown, and the William tell pattern, one at each end of the card . I like to call such decks "Janus"decks.

 The motivation for producing such chimeras , is that in some countries, like Austria, card-players use two diffrent types of playing cards, which are completely diffrent from one another. Therefore , as a comprmise, makers sometimes print such decks, with one type of card at one end, and the other at the other end. Therefore, the dispute is settled.
 Also note that this deck has 6s. Normaly, Austrian large crown decks do not have 6s.




Here are the number cards of the deck. Note the decoration on the german suited side, which is     copied faithfuly!



Here is the same deck, with the french suited side facing upwards

see also;
and