my playing card collection
Jasskarten "Fortuna"
Fortuna/Hächler Söhne AG
Switzerland
Unknown
pre 1971
36 cards 88 x 56mm
Swiss / German
Maker:
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Suit:
Bells Schellen
Roses Rosen
Shields Schilten
Acorns Eicheln
These Swiss cards for playing the game Jass are based on the German suit pattern with a few changes. The tens have been replaced by banners, a feature seen in some early german cards and the courst have their names written on them. The suits are as shown above.
The design of the deck originates in the early modern period, and had become fixed by the 1920s. Johannes I Müller of Diessenhofen printed an early such deck in 1840. His successor Johannes II Müller was the owner of the Müller company in Schaffhausen which printed a "single image" variant of the deck in c.1880, from which it derived the "double image" design which is now standard in c. 1920. The "single image" version survived into the 1950s, but became increasingly rare after 1920.
Also in the 1920s, a nearly identical design was produced by Hächler und Söhne of Zürich. The ace of Schellen is still used to attribute the design to the original design, while the ace of Schilten is used to indicate the present manufacturer. The cards below are a later version of the original Hächler und Söhne publication.
Information on how to play JASS can be found here.