Andy's Playing Cards - Uncut Sheets of Playing Cards

This page presents two sheets featuring the obsolete Toscane cards, one by Raffaele Pignalosa and one by Edoardo. As already seen in page 2, father and son printed their own editions, and also these two sheets, which at a first glance might look identical, looked at more closely reveal some interesting differences.

This pattern was once played with in Tuscany, thus partly overlapping the areas where the Fiorentine cards were used. It consisted of 40 cards with French suits and, as the aforesaid cards from Florence, the courts were single-headed, but their design was simpler, less detailed.

As of the 1960s, most manufacturers discontinued the design of the Toscane cards, maintaining only that of the large Fiorentine, in two distinct versions: in original size (i.e. large, see page 5) and in reduced size, i.e. that of an ordinary regional deck. The reduced version was then labelled Toscane. So today the pattern shown in this page is more often referred to as old Toscane, despite being the legitimate bearer of this name.

The two sheets have the same size, 63½ x 38 cm. (25 x 15½ in.), but from the top row to the bottom, both the red suits and the black suits are in reversed order. Furthermore, in Edoardo's sheet the courts follow the sequence (from right to left) queen, knave and king, whereas in the older sheet the sequence is normal, i.e. knave, queen, king.

		This page presents two sheets featuring the obsolete Toscane cards, one by Raffaele Pignalosa and one by Edoardo. As already seen in page 2, father and son printed their own editions, and also these two sheets, which at a first glance might look identical, looked at more closely reveal some interesting differences.

This pattern was once played with in Tuscany, thus partly overlapping the areas where the Fiorentine cards were used. It consisted of 40 cards with French suits and, as the aforesaid cards from Florence, the courts were single-headed, but their design was simpler, less detailed.

			As of the 1960s, most manufacturers discontinued the design of the Toscane cards, maintaining only that of the large Fiorentine, in two distinct versions: in original size (i.e. large, see page 5) and in reduced size, i.e. that of an ordinary regional deck. The reduced version was then labelled Toscane. So today the pattern shown in this page is more often referred to as old Toscane, despite being the legitimate bearer of this name.

	Finally, also the shape of the pips, despite being very simple, is clearly different: the ones in Raffaele's edition are somewhat slimmer. The name and the address of the maker is found on the ace of Hearts (as usual), but in Raffaele's edition it is repeated on the 4 of Hearts. On Raffaele's ace of Hearts the address contains a funny typo: the ZZ in 'piazza' are reversed, spelt SS.

	The 4 of Hearts instead reads 'RAF. PIGNALOSA & SONS', which shows that during his late years Raffaele ran the company together with his sons. The year of Raffaele's sheet is mentioned on the back of the sheet, 1941, featuring the simple criss-cross texture.

Finally, also the shape of the pips, despite being very simple, is clearly different: the ones in Raffaele's edition are somewhat slimmer.

The name and the address of the maker is found on the ace of Hearts (as usual), but in Raffaele's edition it is repeated on the 4 of Hearts. On Raffaele's ace of Hearts the address contains a funny typo: the ZZ in 'piazza' are reversed, spelt SS.

The 4 of Hearts instead reads 'RAF. PIGNALOSA & SONS', which shows that during his late years Raffaele ran the company together with his sons. The year of Raffaele's sheet is mentioned on the back of the sheet, 1941, featuring the simple criss-cross texture.

other pages in this gallery: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 9 |

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