| Suit System: | F |
| Recommended Name: | no recommended name. |
Formerly labelled F-1.52 and XP1 (XP for eXpatriate Paris). Mesmaekers of Turnhout in the late 19th century called their version of the pattern "Cartes Hambourgeoises" for no obvious reason.
Examples of this pattern are not very common, and tend to be anonymous, but an early example with a definite date is by A. Korb of Chemnitz (1849), in which the Kings and Jacks are in the typical form for this pattern, but the Queens are quite untypical. Indeed, unlike the Kings and Jacks, the Queens of this pattern seem very variable, but one of the best known examples is a version made by C. L. Wüst of Frankfurt a/M. Mesmaekers' version (c.1880) is very close, but other similar ones are anonymous. F. A. Lattmann of Goslar had a rather distinctive version called "Bongoût" once attributed erroneously to Mesmaekers [see Playing-Card World No.64].
Wüst also produced a version with rather different Queens for a patience-sized pack in chromolitho with round corners, following an anonymous design printed from etched plates with stencil colour and square corners (which may also have been by Wüst). This particular design seems to have been the only XP pattern used on patience cards in the 19th century. A version of it was kept in production until the 1980s on miniature cards by AG Müller, who also used it on the inset cards on their Lenormand fortune-telling cards.
Usual XP format (i.e. with
a horizontal dividing line). The Kings still reproduce the most essential
features of the prototype but the Jacks display a more tenuous connection. As
usual for the XP group, it is the four Kings that define the pattern,
K
and K
being the most important.
The small shield held by K
has a round top as in the Hamburg and
North-German patterns [IPCS #58], [IPCS #59] and the Russian pattern (XP9). Like P. O.
Runge's figure, K is plucking
the strings of his harp and reappears in the XP group in which
K's shield has an angular top.
K
holds an orb and sword
(sometimes a sceptre) as in the prototype, while
K
often wears armour under
his cloak, and his sceptre sometimes has a radiant tip.
The Queens usually have
small crowns perched on their heads, and hold flowers. One, usually
Q, is often in profile holding
a tulip, as in the prototype.
All Jacks carry halberds.
In addition, J holds the edge
of his cloak as in the Paris prototype;
J has his hand curled
round his sword-hilt; J is
not in profile, and his free hand is not shown;
J
holds a sword-hilt. (J and
J in Lattmann's
version do not show their free hands.) Suit-swapping sometimes occurs.
King, Queen, Jack and numerals; usually 52 cards. Some packs, especially Lattmann's, have scenic aces.
The Cary catalogue illustrates examples at BEL 26 and GER 63-65; items AUS 46 and Sheet 20, although catalogued as XP1, have Kings that display the essential features of the Hamburg pattern [IPCS #58].
Lattmann's version figures as F24 in Spielkarten aus Goslar by Peter Endebrock and Sigmar Radau.
H. Dieudonné, Grevenmacher c.1840;
J. A. Steinberger, Frankfurt a/M;
Laine-Claus, Brussels c.1860;
Jos. Frey, Munich post 1879.
| Top three Rows: | Anonymous (probably Turnhout) courts of c.1880, based on Wüst's full-size version. |
| Bottom three Rows: | Anonymous patience version (please note that the illustrations have a different reduction factor). |
| The International Playing-Card Society | 8/2001 JB |