| Suit System: | I |
| Recommended Name: | the 19th-century Empire Trappola. |
The earliest example known to the writer was made in Graz by Leopold Milchram in 1804 (Cary, AUS 83). By 1824 the pattern was being followed in both Vienna (J.N. Hofman) and Prague (Wenzel Swoboda) and, back in Graz, by Anton Herrl a few years later. In 1854 Friedrich Eurich of Linz produced a slight variant. However, the heyday of the pattern belongs to the second half of the 19th Century, mainly with cards made in Vienna. Karl Pichler (1851), Gebrüder Siegl (1858), Johann Nejedly (c.1860), Josef Glanz (c.1860), Andreas Sageder (c.1860) and, finally, moving into another part of the Empire, a pack was made in Budapest by the Erste Ung. Spielkarten-Fabriks-Actien Gesellschaft (c.1870).
One of the main features of this pattern are the elongated Cups and Chalices with lids covering them. Except for this detail the Jack of Cups might be indistinguishable from that of [IPCS #41]. In fact a number of features are shared by the two patterns: the natural bird on the ace of cups; the turban under the crown of the King of Swords; the stance of both the Jack of Cups and the Jack of Coins. The differences lie mainly with the headwear of most of the Court figures. The Jack of Swords, for example, has a baggy flat top to a hat without a rim. The Kings, except for he of Swords, all have plain, unfussy crowns. The Cavalier of Cups wears what might be a tricorn with a feather curled back over it. The Cavalier of Coins has lost his Phrygian cap which has been replaced by a baker-boy's hat with feathers.
It is an interesting pattern, being one of several with other suit-systems whose manufacture and use is confmed to a single Century.
It is known only with double-headed Court cards.
As for [IPCS #40].
The writer so far knows none apart from those referred to above.
INVENTAR-KATALOG DER SPIELKARTEN-SAMMLUNG DES STADTMUSEUMS LINZ: Erika Kroppenstedt and Detlef Hoffmann, Bielefeld, 1969.
THE CARY COLLECTION OF PLAYING CARDS: William Keller, Yale, 1981.
SPIELKARTEN: Sigmar Radau, Munich, 1991.
| Top row: cards by Wenzel Swoboda, Prague, c.1825. (Deutsches Spielkarten Museum). Middle row: cards by Gebrüder Siegl, Vienna, 1858. Lower row: Erste Ungar. Spielkarten-Fabriks Actien Gesellschaft, Budapest, c.1875 |
| The International Playing-Card Society | 7/1993 |