Fantasy deck by Joseph Fetscher

Fine French-suited cards with full-length figures made in Germany by Joseph Fetscher in Munich, c.1825. The shield on the Jack of hearts reads “Joseph Fetscher in München”. The king of clubs has a lion supporting the arms of Bavaria.

Joseph Fetscher came from a playing-card making family and was granted a privilege to make playing cards in 1792. His workshop was located in Burggasse no.184 in Munich, where he produced a range of French-suited animal and scenic tarots, German-suited Bavarian pattern packs, Italian-suited Trappola packs, Vogelspiel (Cucu card game), miniature packs, historical packs, all carefully printed and beautifully coloured.

Above: 52-card deck with fantasy French-suited pattern produced by Joseph Fetscher, Munich, c.1825. Stencil-coloured woodcuts; the back has a pattern of dots. The six of hearts has a tax stamp used in Bayern from 1826 to c.1837. The text on the tax stamp is the name of a Bavarian region (Isarkreis) with a value in Kreuzer (8 Ker). Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France • Feine Französiche Karten►

Ferdinando Gumppenberg studied with Fetscher when he arrived from Italy to Munich in 1809.

The wrapper has the coat-of-arms of Bavaria supported by two lions. See the wrapper►

Further References

Peter Endebrock's playing-card pages: Tax Stamps from German States►

A very similar 32-card piquet version is in the British Museum: number 1896,0501.257►