The World of Playing Cards Logo

The English Playing Card Society

EPCS Logo

Promoting research into English card history since 1984. Members receive the EPCS magazine three times a year.

Join from £10/year

Basler Fasnachts-Karten

Published December 01, 2012 Updated September 14, 2024

The Basler Fasnachts deck is designed each year by a different local artist.

1987 SwitzerlandArt & DesignCarnivalCollaborativeFasnachtskartenMarianne Pomeroy

Basler Fasnachts-Karten Playing Cards, 1987

See also:  1982198319841985198619881989

The Carnival of Basel (German: Basler Fasnacht) is the biggest carnival in Switzerland which takes place annually between February and March. A special deck is designed for the occasion by a local artist. The 1987 Basler Fasnachtskarten deck was designed by Marianne Pomeroy, successfully capturing the spirit of the carnival, the colourful costumes, masks and harlequins with flutes and drums, almost like Alice in Wonderland or a Disney animated movie. The participants toss confetti into the crowds and hand out sweets and other treats to the spectators.   Wikipedia →

the 1987 Basler Fasnachts-Karten deck designed by Marianne Pomeroy

Above: the 12 court cards from the 1987 Basler Fasnachts-Karten deck designed by Marianne Pomeroy and printed by Müller A.G., Neuhausen a/R. 52 cards + 3 Jokers.

Above: all images courtesy Barney Townshend.

avatar
129 Articles

By Barney Townshend

United Kingdom • Member since October 06, 2015

Retired Airline Pilot, interested in: Transformation Playing Cards, Karl Gerich and Elaine Lewis. Secretary of the EPCS. Treasurer of the IPCS.

Activity for Basler Fasnachts-Karten

Sign in to comment or save this article.


Related Articles

1906 Schweizer Trachten

Schweizer Trachten

Schweizer Trachten No.174 (Costumes Suisses) by Dondorf.

Carl Arnold Transformation

Carl Arnold Transformation

Transformation playing cards designed by Carl Johann Arnold (1829-1916), the court artist for King F...

1988 Krienser Fasnachts-Jass 1988

Krienser Fasnachts-Jass 1988

The Krienser Fasnachts-Jass deck was designed and published by Léon Schnyder from Kriens for the 198...

1931 Hycrest Modern Royalty

Hycrest Modern Royalty

Published by the Hycrest Playing Card Co., New York, c.1931. The large suit symbol behind each figur...

1933 Ritter & Cie, 1933

Ritter & Cie, 1933

A colourful re-working of the standard Anglo-American pattern in Art Deco style.

1998 Brussels Euro Joker Club 1998

Brussels Euro Joker Club 1998

Brussels Euro Joker Club's 10th Anniversary deck, with artwork by Yvette Cleuter, was produced in a ...

1961 Ceska Graficka Unie AS

Ceska Graficka Unie AS

Playing Cards printed by Ceska Graficka Unie AS, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1890-1925.

1900 Luxus Club Karte No.184

Luxus Club Karte No.184

Another of Dondorf's masterpieces of chromolithography, the detailed artwork on these cards has mult...

1925 Carnival Playing Cards, 1925

Carnival Playing Cards, 1925

The Carnival Playing Card deck designed by Harry D. Wallace (1892-1977) and first published in 1925....

1922 Dilkhus playing cards for India

Dilkhus playing cards for India

Van Genechten was one of the most competent cardmakers in Turnhout and they produced almost every ki...

1950 Leonor Fini

Leonor Fini

The originality of Leonor Fini's work is evident in these playing card designs. The imagery of her p...

1967 Salvador Dalí

Salvador Dalí

Based on the standard French ‘Paris’ pattern, Dalí composed his playing card figures out of geometri...

Graciela Rodo Boulanger

Graciela Rodo Boulanger

Boulanger's paintings and graphic art works are easily recognized. The Latin American influence is a...

1991 Karl Korab (Ed. Hilger)

Karl Korab (Ed. Hilger)

Karl Korab was born in 1937 in Falkenstein (Lower Austria), the son of a forester. As a child he exp...

1909 Arnold Schönberg

Arnold Schönberg

In around 1909 he created three sets of playing cards. His inventiveness was driven by a passion for...

1950 Cashmere

Cashmere

Bernhard Altmann is from the “The House of Cashmere” and these playing cards honour their best known...

1982 Karl Gerich No.1

Karl Gerich No.1

The first entry in the catalogue, dating from c.1982, shows full-length figures with their symbols o...

1994 Karl Gerich No.27

Karl Gerich No.27

The courts are characters from Wagner's opera “The Ring of the Nibelungs”, beautifully etched and ha...

1930 Gedimino Stulpai

Gedimino Stulpai

Gedimino Stulpai playing cards made in Lithuania by Spindulys Printing Co., Kaunas, depicting Lithua...

The History of Playing Cards

The History of Playing Cards

Playing cards appear in European records in the late 14th century, but their earlier history lies fu...


Sign in with Google