| Suit System: | G |
| Recommended Name: | the Bavarian pattern Type S (Stralsund variant). |
The traditional Bavarian Pattern, produced since 1810 by Bavarian makers, got a rival from North Germany in c.1880. The Vereinigte Stralsunder Spielkarten (VSS) issued a design expressly for the Bavarian market. The oldest document is a sheet by Leopold Schehl from Frankfurt (1879). Lennhoff from the same town took this to Stralsund, when he fused his Company with VSS. The oldest complete packs are from Stralsund (c.1885).
The S variant differs from the M variant by: fantastic Landsknecht clothes (conforming to the then prevailing taste), somewhat reminiscent of Hauck and Amman. The Unter of Acorns wears a cap. Bacchus sits astride a beer-barrel. The Ober of Leaves wears a fantasy hat instead of a two-cornered one, holding the drum on the right thigh. The Ober of Acorns holds a pointed shield. On the 8 of Hearts the Munich Kindl appears, instead of the traditional medallion with a view of the town.
The single-figured pack was sold until 1960. The double-figured pack first appeared c.1900. Today many firms offer it (since 1950), with VASS in Leinfelden its predominant maker.
36 cards: Daus, King, Ober, Unter, 10 to 6 in the usual German suits.
Lennhoff & Heuser in Frankfurt c.1880;Ver. Stralsunder Spielkartenfabriken c.1885; F.X.Schmid in München c.1905 to 1950; Johann Peter Bürgers in Köln c.1910; Ferdinand Piatnik in Wien c.1920; Flemming & Wiskott in Glogau c.1930; F.A. Lattmann in Goslar c.1925; J. Kliegl in Mainz c.1938; double-figured packs: Ariston, Casino, VASS, Carta Mundi, Bielefelder, Berliner, Düsseldorfer, Fournier, Nürnberger (several variants), Pelikan.
DAS BAYERISCHE BILD, Studien zur Spielkarte Nr.4, Manfred Hausler, Berlin 1993
SPIELKARTEN, Katalog des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums München, Sigmar Radau und Georg Himmelheber, München 1991
ALLE KARTEN AUF DEN TISCH, Ausstellungskatalog des Deutschen Spielkarten Museums Leinfelden, Sylvia Mann, Leinfelden-Echterdingen and Marburg 1990
| Upper two rows: single-headed pack by Vereinigte
Stralsunder Spielkartenfabrik, c.1900. Below: double-headed pack by Flemming & Wiskott, c.1930. (coll. Manfred Hausler). |
| The International Playing-Card Society | 7/1995 MH |