Playing Cards in Denmark

The earliest mention of playing-cards in Denmark dates from 1487 when King Hans, who reigned from 1481-1513 and was notorious for his gambling, again and again drew money from the treasury to pay for his losses. Cards were mostly imported from France and Belgium. The earliest existing pack of cards known to be printed in Denmark is an Animal Tarock pack which follows Belgian designs, made by the printer Jean Friedrich Mayer, who had been granted a royal licence to print playing-cards from 1752-1783.

Mayer's licence was taken over in 1783 by Christoffer Ernst Süsz, who was joined in 1790 by Kunze, and who also produced Animal Tarock packs, as well as Paris-type packs. Similar packs were produced by Steinman (1798-1820).

The production of playing-cards by the celebrated Holmblad family started with the granting of a royal licence in 1820 to Jacob Holmblad (1791-1837). He published three whist decks and a pack of Animal Tarock cards, the last ever of this type to be made in Denmark. After his death in 1837, playing-card production was continued by his son Lauritz Peter Holmblad (1815-1890). The royal licence was formally transferred to him in 1841, and  Holmblad became a household name which appears on Danish packs even today.

L. P. Holmblad parted from the tradition of Animal Tarock packs and published newly-designed packs depicting prominent buildings from in and around Copenhagen (click on images).

In around 1890 Holmblad's successor S. Salomon acquired the rights to use these playing-card designs and continued producing packs under the Holmblad name (click on images below).

Hereafter the Holmblad house patterns were printed by foreign makers such as Wüst of Germany, Piatnik of Austria, as well as Belgian manufacturers and even Waddingtons of England.   See more →

The principal cardmaker in Denmark today is Handa. During the 1930s, the UK manufacturer Alf Cooke produced special packs for export to Denmark. Also, De La Rue manufactured special packs to commemorate King Christian X of Denmark in 1935 and 1937.

Images courtesy Hans Jørgen Hinrup and historical notes taken from his article published in The Playing-Card vol.31, no.5, IPCS London, March-Apr 2003. Details of Tax Stamps on Danish playing-cards can be found on the website of Peter Endebrock.