"Hofämterspiel" (Germany)
(Royal Household Servants)
handmade deck found in castle Ambras (Tirol) together with the socallled Ambras deck.
specific suits:
spade = "An eagle displayed" (Holy Empire)
heart = "A lion rampant, double queld crowned or." (Bohemia)
diamond = "Azurre, three fleurs-de-lys, or." (France)
club = "Barry of eight, azure and gules" (Hungary)
48 cards: king, queen, 10, 9..., 2, ace
deck was reprinted by "Piatnik" in 1976 for Heimeran (Munich) as "Hofämterspiel",
with the dimension 97x140 mm, leaflet 144 pages
| d00360r01 |
box |
| spade | heart | diamond | club |
| ace | ace | ace | ace |
| king | king | king | king |
| queen | queen | queen | queen |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
The Hofämterspiel is dated at ca. 1455 and it is suggested, that it was produced for Ladislaus Postumus.
Already Johannes of Rheinfelden knew 1377 a deck, in which professions were attributed to the number cards.
Alternative opinion in H.T.Morley "Old and curious playing cards", 1931: 1440 - 1445.
Another information from site of Andrea Pollett.
Fournier Museum: printed by "Ernst Rudolf Ragg" (Vienna), 1460.
Alexander Sukhorukow: "And in my opinion it's a mystification of XIX c."