| Suit System: | FT |
| Recommended Name: | the Austrian Tarock Type A. |
This pattern was originally classified as FT-2.1.
Usually referred to as "Austrian Tarock" or "Industrie und
Glück Tarock", as are, also, FT-2.2 and
FT-2.3. It is recommended that this pattern shall
be referred to as "Austrian Tarock Type A".
The pattern was certainly established by 1865, but does not appear to have survived the 1914-18 war.
Some twenty or thirty years before its emergence, a pack was made by J. G. Steiger of Vienna having as the subject of its trump cards costumes of the various parts of the Austria-Hungary Empire, the regions being named at the edge of each card. Several makers copied the theme of the trump cards (though not the court cards which were far from standard) sometimes lifting exact designs, sometimes introducing their own. The court cards of such packs soon became standard, resembling those of the present pattern. Then, around 1865, at least two series of constant trump designs became established (FT-2.l and FT-2.2) and were followed by various makers. FT-2.l, or Type A, included 20 of the original Steiger scenes, but FT-2.2, or Type B, while incorporating a number of Type A's and FT-2.3's (Type C's) scenes, did not include any of Steiger's designs.
Mostly made in Vienna and Budapest, an example of this pattern is known from as far afield as Lwow.
Viennese examples have the customary inscription "Industrie und Glück" on trump II, but in Budapest "Szerencse Fel!" is substituted and in the pack from Lwow the inscription reads "Przemysl i Szczescie".
54 cards. 4 suits of 4 double-ended court cards and four pip cards (king, queen, cavalier, jack; red suits A-4, black suits 7-10) plus 21 horizontally divided trumps, with different designs at each end, and the Fool or Skys. It is not at present known if, in common with FT-2.2 and FT-2.3, this pattern was ever issued in 42-card form (suppressing the red 2-4s and the black 7-9s) but it is quite possible.
The Steiger captions enable one to identify some of the scenes included in this pattern (the original inscriptions are given: "S" = Steiger).
Trump II, couple dancing to musician, "Siebenbürger" (S-X).
IIIa, man with horse, "Boehmen" (S-II).
IIIb, couple at well, "Italiener" (S-XV).
IIII, man on galloping horse, "Ungarn", (S-IX).
Va, man seated, girl has hand on his shoulder, "Krainer" (S-VII).
Vb, couple embracing, seated dog, "Ober Oestreicher" (S-XVII).
VIIa, girl presenting wreath to seated man, "Ober Oestreicher" (S-XVII).
VIIb, man with stick, speaking to seated woman, "Inner Oestreicher" (S-XX).
VIIIa, scene at well, "Steyrer" (S-IIII).
VIIIb, man seated, girl standing holding jug, "Hanaken" (S-VIII).
IX, man with long staff, girl with posy, "Krainer" (S-VII).
X, man seated with stick, girl turns back, "Salzburger" (S-XVI).
XIa, seated man, standing woman, "Hanaken" (S-VIII).
XIb, couple holding hands, "Ungarn" (S-IX).
XII, woman threatening seated man, "Unter Oestreicher" (S-XII).
XIII, man at table, arms raised, "Inner Oestreicher" (S-XX).
XIV, woman spinning, standing man, "Unter Oestreicher" (S-XII).
XVII, seated man, pointing to girl, "Istrier" (S-XVIII).
XVIII, man serenading seated girl, "Italiener" (S-XV).
XX, man leaning on gun, woman seated, 'Istrier" (S-XVIII).
Ferd. Piatnik & Söhne, Vienna, late 19th and early 20th centuries.
C. Titze & Schinkay, Vienna, 1865.
Piatnik Nándor és Fiai, Budapest, c.1900.
Pierwsza Gal. Fabr. Kart do Gry, Lwow, c.1900.
| Cards from a pack by Piatnik Nándor és Fiai, Budapest. |
| The International Playing-Card Society | September, 1978 |