The following description of contemporary deck designs is from David Parlett’s The Oxford Guide to Card Games, pages 29-31. These systems had been established by 1550. Parlett’s description demonstrates the striking historical continuity and conservative regional traditions of playing cards. Characteristics such as the German Ober and Unter, the Swiss Banner, and the Italian suit-signs have endured despite the fact that a de facto international standard has arisen which doesn’t utilize them. This kind of conservative tradition might be taken for granted except for the early history of the German and Swiss suit signs, which showed great variety before a standard was established.
Five main types of standard pack are current in Europe, each distinguished by its suit system, its court characters, and its selection of numeral or ‘spot’-cards.
1. French-suited cards. The suits are spades, clubs, hearts, diamonds; the courts are King, Queen, and a male menial called a Knave or Jack; and numerals One to Ten. The One is usually called Ace and often ranks higher than the King. Although the full pack therefore comprises 52 cards, many traditional continental games use packs stripped of lower numerals from Two upwards. The commonest short pack comprises 32 cards, with Seven low (omitting Two to Six). The French-suited pack, besides that now regarded as the international standard, is also the standard national pack of France, Britain, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, much of northern Germany, and parts of Switzerland. Each country has its own distinctive design or pattern of French-suited cards. Many derive from the Paris pattern of French cards. The most widespread or international design is that of Britain, which in turn derives from France’s now extinct ‘Rouen’ pattern. [Established circa 1480.]
2. German cards. Unlike French cards, which have an air of refinement and courtliness about them, traditional German cards are of a more rustic and military character. The suits are leaves, acorns, hearts, and bells (spherical hawk-bells), and the all-male courts are King, Ober, and Unter. The last two are often taken t mean ‘Over-Officer’ and ‘Under-Officer’, thought the terms originally referred to the position of the suit-signs. The numeral are Seven to Ten inclusive and a Deuce – usually referred to as ‘Ace’, since it behaves like one. The traditional German pack therefore now comprises 32 cards, though deriving, like the French Piquet pack, from an earlier 36-card model by suppression of the Sixes. Other lengths are produced for particular games, such as 36 for Tarock, 24 for Sixty-Six, double-24 for Gaigel. German cards appear in a variety of regional patterns. They are used mainly in the German south, but are also current in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, and other eastern European countries. [Established circa 1460.]
3. Swiss cards. These are closely related to German cards, as might be expected. The suits are shields (actually escutcheons), acorns, flowers (called roses), and bells; the courts are King, Over, and Under, and the numerals theoretically Six to Ten plus Deuce. The Ten in fact is known as ‘Banner’, and actually depicts that object, with the appropriate suit mark. The Swiss pack therefore comprises 36 cards, though a 48-card pack (lacking only Aces) is still produced for the ancient Kaiser-game, formerly known as Karnöffel. Swiss-suited cards are also known as Jasskarten from the principal game played with them, to distinguish them from the indigenous Swiss design of French-suited cards or Piquett-Karten. [Established circa 1450.]
4. Spanish cards. By comparison with French and German cards, both Spanish and Italian cards might perhaps be characterized as noble and ceremonial. The suits are swords, clubs (real ones, with knobs and leaves), cups, and coins; the courts are King, Knight or Cavalier, and a male Servant or Valet. The numerals are normally One to Seven, making a 40-card pack in all, though 48-card packs are also produced with numerals One to Nine. Spanish cards, in a variety of designs and patterns, are used throughout the Spanish-speaking world, including South and Central America, as well as in Catalan France (Roussillon), the Balearics, Morocco, and central and southern Italy.
5. Italian cards. These are basically the same as Spanish cards, with suits of swords, batons, cups, and coins; courts of King, Knight (Cavalier), Footsoldier; and numerals One to Seven, making a 40-card pack, though 52-card packs are also manufactured. The main difference lies in the representation of swords and batons. Italian swords are curved (like scimitars), depicted at full length, and interlaced with one another at top and bottom to produce an integral design, whereas Spanish ones are straight, depicted separately, and on higher numerals are shortened into what look like daggers in order to avoid overcrowding the space. Italian batons and Spanish clubs are both basically sticks, but whereas Spanish sticks look as if they have just been hewn from trees, those of Italy are narrow and neatly turned ceremonial objects best described as batons. They are long, think, straight, and interlaced into a pattern reminiscent of trellis-work. Italian-suited cards are restricted to the north of the country, where they appear in a variety of local or regional patterns.