About the Deck
The Praha XII deck I own is an “old” deck of Bohemian pattern playing cards which I believe are from the 1930s. They are scuffed, worn and slightly bent from use which I love.
The Bohemian or Prague pattern is a style of German suited playing cards used in parts of Czechia. It has 32 cards, deuces, sevens to tens, under knaves, over knaves and kings, with the German suits acorns, leaves, hearts and bells. This particular deck was made by Piatnik and has bright colours, with a lot of red, yellow, blue and green.
Favourite Cards
The eight of hearts has a multicoloured fountain with water pouring out in quite a ridiculous fashion that I quite like. The under knave of hearts has a fantastic long curly hairstyle with an interesting beard. There is a long horned goat in the nine of leaves. I kind of love the cute flower barrel in the seven of bells. The guy in the eight of acorns reminds me of my dad who once owned a similar hunting horn and thought it was amusing to blow it in my ear and make me jump. Finally, the nine of acorns features a rather odd looking bird that appears to be stuck to the stem of the plant growing up the middle of the card.
Final Thoughts
While it’s not my favourite deck in the world, mostly because of the colours, its weird characters and animals are intriguing, and it’s a good example of its type. Regional variations of playing cards are really interesting and I love the patina of age you get from a well used deck.
