Game tokens used to design mine on the cards, I choose to pick ones from something other then cards to reaffirm that it's for the non-gambling side of Cards.
Based on the seventeenth century designs of Hewson, the cards exhibit that geometric construction which characterises the English pattern and which has survived to the contemporary double-ended cards used today. Packs contain 52 cards, with plain or coloured backs. The size of the cards is usually around 60mms x 87 mms. These dimensions may vary by a few mms since packs are hand-made and each one is slightly different.
Above: facsimile of 17th century Spanish-suited playing cards which would originally have been made in or for the region of Navarre in Northern Spain. Limited edition of 400 copies, produced by Erregeak, Sormen S.A., Vitoria-Gasteiz (Alava), Spain, 1988. The Sota of Cups has a lion insignia on the breast of his tunic which also appears on the Four of Coins. The Five of Coins features a single bust in the central coin, instead of two facing busts as seen in earlier examples which depicted the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella.
Above: cards from Bohemian or Prager pattern, 32 cards, manufactured by Obchodní Tiskárny, Prague, Czechoslovakia, c.1970. Some of the features in this pattern originate in much earlier German cards in the 16th century. The Pegasus motif on the reverse and on the eight of bells was inherited from Ritter & Cie, Prague. Click the image to see the box
German-suited packs have tended to remove the lower numeral cards, apart from the Deuces (Twos), to reduce the number of cards from 52 to 36 or 32 cards. This is a northern custom, whereas in areas using Spanish or Italian suit systems, it is more customary to drop the 8 & 9s and to have 10, 11 & 12 as the three courts, making 40 card decks.
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