A New Year’s Greeting
in the form of playing cards
Not a pack of playing cards, but a New Years greeting in the form of 12 court cards, each one representing a month of the year. The comical looking courts are loosely based on those of the English pattern but have attributes and expressions representing the month in which they are shown. The reverse side of each card shows the appropriate sign of the zodiac and has a saying in German on each end of the card. The sayings are all representative of the month. You can have fun translating the four card backs shown below.
The cards, which are slightly larger than normal (102 x 65 mm), come in a slim decorated cardboard slipcase which tells us that the cards were presented by Wilhelm Eckel of Offenbach who was a representative of the Bauerschen Gießerei (German Type Foundry) which existed from 1887 until 1972. This set is probably from the 1960's. The card images were drawn by Fritz Kredel and wood engraved by Willi Seidl. The case and backs were designed by Veronica Gruber. An interesting curiosity !
Below: both slides of the slip case
All cards shown are from the collection of Paul Symons ©
By Paul Symons
Member since February 01, 2016
I'm British but I have now lived in the Netherlands for more than 50 years and am still enjoying every minute of it. I started collecting playing cards in the early 1980’s after speaking with my neighbour who was at that time a croupier in a casino. I started with just collecting jokers, but that soon led me to complete packs of cards and eventually to specialising in old and antique playing cards, particularly those of C.L. Wüst of Frankfurt, Germany. I am presently the Dutch representative of the I.P.C.S. and the auctioneer at the IPCS conventions.
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