Casino No.240
Piatnik-Ritter No.240 - Obchodní Tiskárny Casino No.240.
Piatnik-Ritter No.240
Above: Piatnik-Ritter No.240 playing cards, pre-1946, when Ritter were Nationalised and became a part of OTK (along with the other printing industries in Czechoslovakia). The ace of spades states: “Made in Czechoslovakia”. The logo on the ace of hearts states: “Ferd Piatnik & Sons Ritter & Comp Praha”.
The court cards from Ritter’s packs were imported into the UK after WWII by Bancroft & Partners Ltd with the brand name “Casino”. The joker was also carried over. (These should not be confused with a German firm who also used the name Casino.)
Obchodní Tiskárny Casino No.240
Above: OTK Casino No.240, c.1950s. The ace of hearts has the word “casino” and the ace of spades merely states: “foreign”. OTK continued to use Ritter's veiled joker, but later introduced a new version (shown below). See the Control Slip►
Obchodní Tiskárny Casino No.300
Above: OTK Casino No.300, imported into UK by Bancroft & Partners Ltd, c.1960s, with a new joker. See the Box► Another similar brand was named Casino No.250. Images courtesy Matt Probert.
Above: “Casino” brand for the 60th anniversary of Česká Zbrojovka motorcycle company which was established in 1919. The company logo appears on the back and two custom jokers with the legend “Let 60 1919-1979”.
The ace of spades has been re-drawn several times but basically remains the same►
REFERENCES
Lodge, Ken: Obchodni Tiskarny Karty Casino brands, E.P.C.S. Newsletter, June 2015. Donwload here►
By Matt Probert
Member since March 02, 2012
I have adored playing cards since before I was seven years old, and was brought up on packs of Waddington's No 1. As a child I was fascinated by the pictures of the court cards.
Over the next fifty years I was seduced by the artwork in Piatnik's packs and became a collector of playing cards.
Seeking more information about various unidentified packs I discovered the World of Playing Cards website and became an enthusiastic contributor researching and documenting different packs of cards.
I describe my self as a playing card archaeologist, using detective work to identify and date obscure packs of cards discovered in old houses, flea markets and car boot sales.
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