Swiss French Suited Playing Cards, c.1840
French-suited playing-cards in the Paris pattern appeared in Switzerland around the end of the sixteenth century, when many Lyonnais cardmakers were driven away by heavy taxes.
Swiss French Suited Playing Cards, c.1840
French-suited playing-cards appeared in Switzerland around the end of the sixteenth century, when many Lyonnais cardmakers were driven away by heavy taxes. The example shown here, printed from woodblocks and hand-coloured with stencils, was manufactured by J. Müller, Diessenhofen, c.1840. For some time, the cantons of Switzerland had their own tax regulations, including tax stamps for playing-cards. The example shown here is a tax stamp from the Canton of St Gallen.
Left: enlargement of tax stamp on the ace of diamonds. For further details about Swiss tax stamps, see the website of Peter Endebrock►
By Simon Wintle
Member since February 01, 1996
Founder and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.
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