#817 BIELEFELDER SPIELKARTEN - PS-MATADORE (No. 0228) (1972)

This deck of card is similar to the one in the previous entry, only slightly rarer (to my knowledge, Bielefelder is in general rarer than Piatnik) and also slightly older. Of course it focuses on F1 drivers, but also include other categories as well.

As a matter of fact, it includes two extra cards with the technical specifications of Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3 an Formula V, apart of one card with the instructions and the cover card.
Unlike the most common quartets with cars, here we have pictures of the pilots in their pilot outfits, most of them taken directly in the cars, circuits and the paddocks. There are a few of these pilot quartets, but they are not very numerous. I guess the cars are more attractive for children, and this quartet is more for hard-core fanatics.

Note the interesting selection of drivers, many of which are today great F1 legends. The current champion was Emerson Fittipaldi with Lotus-Ford and the following year Jackie Stewart won also with Lotus-Ford.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: PS-MATADORE (No. 0228)
• Year: 1972
• Company: Bielefelder Spielkarten (West Germany)

#351 PIATNIK vs. BIELEFELDER SPIELKARTEN – MOTORRAD WM WELTMEISTERSCHAFT (Nr 4233 and 0284) (1978 and 1975)

These two quartet decks were made in 1973 and 1975 respectively and deal with exactly the same topic: World Championships in Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing.

That époque was dominated by Giacomo Agostini in 500cc and 350cc and by Ángel Nieto in 125cc and 50cc. The Italian pilot was 15 times world champion and the Spaniard was 13 times world champion. At that time it was allowed to participate in different categories at the same time, I guess nowadays it is impossible to reach such a number of world championships.

Agostinis and Read cards - Note Agostini was still "only" 14 times World Champion. He would win again in 1975.

Ángel Nieto with Derbi and Bultaco cards

Piatnik is a cardmaker from Austria, and Austria was never a great power in this sport. Germany has had more World Champions, but it is still far from the first positions in this rank. Precisely in the early 70s, the German pilot Dieter Braun was World Champion (1970 in 125cc and 1973 in 250cc), so this might have been one reason why Bielefelder Spielkarten wanted to have such a deck in their catalogue. Or maybe it is just motorcycle racing is attractive for children.

Piatnik focused in Austrian Pilots (W. Schmied, H. Bartol, K. Auer, M. Wiener). Yugolasvian motorcycles Tomos were also present in this deck (pilot: A. Bernetic)

Many pilots appear in both decks, although Piatnik focuses in Austrian pilots, while Bielefelder Spielkarten chose more German pilots, including some from the National German Championships, and also from the motorcycle with sidecar World Championships (where Germany is the leading country in number of championships, won between 1954 and 1964 and also between 1967 and 1976).

Here are the pictures of the Piatnik set:

Piatnik's set includes two extra cards,called "Supertrumpfkarten". They are played on their backs (not their faces) and win any trick. Although it doesn't add much to the game, and some people decided not to use them, so in sets with this feature, the extra cards are sometimes missing.

These are the two "Supertrumpfs" included in this set.

And here are the pictures of the Bielefelder Spielkarten/Joker set:

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MOTORRAD-WM (Nr 4233) and MOTORRADWELTMEISTERSCHAFT (Nr 0284)
• Year: 1978 and 1975
• Company: Piatnik (Austria), Bielefelder Spielkarten/Joker (Germany)

#104 BIELEFELDER SPIELKARTEN - KLEINE TIERWELT (1963)

This nice deck of cards was first published in 1950 with 36 cards (9 families of 4 cards each), and reedited in 1953, but this time with only 24 cards. These first and second editions were sold in the same package used for “Eroberung der Luft”, only in green, instead of grey. The version depicted in the following pictures dates from 1963, and was sold in a plastic case. For this reason, this version includes an extra card with the “cover” illustration originally included in the box. A card with instructions is also there, what makes a total of 26 cards.
The complete set of cards is shown in this entry. The “small animals” are distributed in 6 families: Snails, Toads and Frogs, Grasshoppers and Crickets, Bees and Wasps, Ants and Beetles. The names are written only in german.

The Bielefelder Spielkartenfabrik was a card manufacturer that was founded around 1950. In 1972 it was took over by ASS (Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkartenfabriken), together with the German Spielkartenmuseum. Despite of this takeover, products under the name Bielefelder Spielkarten were still sold at least until 1980.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: KLEINE TIERWELT LUSTIGES QÜARTETTSPIEL (Entwürfe Heinz Osthoff) (REF .1042)
• Year: 1963
• Company: Bielefelder Spielkarten G.m.b.H. (West-Germany)