Jugendstil Art Nouveau Bridge

Published October 28, 2014 • Updated February 14, 2025

“Jugendstil Art Nouveau” Bridge Nr.2136 published by Piatnik, 1980.

“Jugendstil Art Nouveau” Bridge box, Piatnik, 1980

Jugendstil Art Nouveau Playing Cards were first released as a 54-card “Tarock No.1” by Joseph Glanz & Albert Berger in 1906, including 22 trump cards. The set was designed by Ditha Moser in Jugendstil style – the German equivalent of Art Nouveau with its preference for straight lines and simple geometrical forms which in this case resemble stained glass windows. Piatnik re-printed the 12 court cards with a full set of number cards as “Jugendstil Art Nouveau Bridge Nr.2136” in 1980. The Hearts court cards are dressed in Louis XVI period fashion, the Clubs courts appear as crusading knights (German Chivalry), the Diamond court cards are clad in ancient Egyptian style and Spades are inspired by the Edda sagas (Byzantium/early Christendom).

“Jugendstil Art Nouveau” Bridge No.2136 published by Piatnik, 1980

Above: “Jugendstil Art Nouveau Bridge Nr.2136” published by Piatnik, 1980. Both decks (blue and red backs) consist of 52 playing cards and 3 Jokers. The Joker is the Fool card from the original 1906 Tarock deck depicting a jester holding a puppet and a curved sword. Images courtesy Rex Pitts.

The original deck was also re-printed by Piatnik as "Jugendstil Tarock", in which all the trump cards depict toy wooden soldiers in a variety of events. The four Knaves are shown below, which of course are missing from the bridge deck.

Above: four Knights from “Jugendstil Art Nouveau” tarock designed by Ditha Moser. Image courtesy Adam West-Watson.

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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

United Kingdom • Member since January 30, 2009

Rex's main interest was in card games, because, he said, they were cheap and easy to get hold of in his early days of collecting. He is well known for his extensive knowledge of Pepys games and his book is on the bookshelves of many. His other interest was non-standard playing cards. He also had collections of sheet music, music CDs, models of London buses, London Transport timetables and maps and other objects that intrigued him.

Rex had a chequered career at school. He was expelled twice, on one occasion for smoking! Despite this he trained as a radio engineer and worked for the BBC in the World Service. Later he moved into sales and worked for a firm that made all kinds of packaging, a job he enjoyed until his retirement. He became an expert on boxes and would always investigate those that held his cards. He could always recognize a box made for Pepys, which were the same as those of Alf Cooke’s Universal Playing Card Company, who printed the card games. This interest changed into an ability to make and mend boxes, which he did with great dexterity. He loved this kind of handicraft work.

His dexterity of hand and eye soon led to his making card games of his own design. He spent hours and hours carefully cutting them out and colouring them by hand.