Tarok c.1900

Piatnik & Söhne “Industrie und Glück” Tarok c.1905-1910.

Austria Hungary Piatnik Tarock

“Industrie und Glück” Tarot c.1905

French-suited “Industrie und Glück” or “Rural Scenes” tarot deck manufactured by Ferd. Piatnik & Söhne, Vienna & Budapest, c.1905. The Trumps have large Roman numerals and feature scenes from daily life, mostly happy and often romantic (different at each end), which had replaced the earlier Animal tarots.

Ferdinand Piatnik’s sons had joined the business in 1882, when “& Söhne” was added to the company name, as shown on the knaves of clubs and diamonds. This changed to “Ferd. Piatnik & Söhne A.G.” when the firm became a limited company in 1917.

Above: detail from the ace of hearts showing the Austro-Hungarian tax stamp used between 1900-1920 →

Piatnik & Söhne “Industrie und Glück” Tarok c.1905

Above: 54-card “Industrie und Glück” or “Rural Scenes” tarot deck based on designs by J. Neumayer, manufactured by Ferd. Piatnik & Söhne, Vienna & Budapest, c.1903-1910. Stencil coloured lithography, square corners and no indices. Images courtesy Rex Pitts.

Right: detail from the knave of clubs showing both the Vienna and Budapest branch addresses
Hütteldorferstrasse 227, Vienna was used during the early 1900s. Rottenbillergasse 17, Budapest was used from about 1903→

By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

Member since January 30, 2009

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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.