Wild cards

Not your ordinary video game

The Maker

For a description of Bernhard Dondorf, please see item 80.

The Cards

This deck is probably the earliest known deck by the German firm of Dondorf, two versions of which exist. The present cards form the more risqué version: on the Ace of Spades, for instance, the woman’s dress is far more low-cut, and on the King of Clubs there is a urinating dog. Another remarkable feature is that the royal characters on the court cards are represened by animals, with the King of Spades a cow and the Queen of Hearts a swan. To distinguish them, crowns are found above the suit symbol on the Kings, slippers on the Queens and axes on the Jack. This allowed them to remain viable as a deck of playing cards. All the pip cards show a romantic or comical scene in shades of either red or green. The number of suit marks on top of these background images indicates the suit and value of each card.