#183 PIATNIK – OPERN QUARTETT and STÄDTE QUARTETT (Ref. 286 and 287) (1957)

These are two Piatnik decks of cards. I have them since a couple of months, and are among the oldest decks in my collection. Curiously they have consecutive reference numbers and they were originally released in 1957.

The Opern Quartett is very similar to the Blumen Quartett that I showed in a past entry (#95), since they share the same type of slipcase (in German is known as “Schuber”). These type of case, as well as another “book” case are among the oldest models used for this type of card decks.

In comparison, the “Seifenbox” or “soap case” looks really modern. The Cities Quartett is clearly a reedition of the original set from 1957 (it was also available in slipcase and box-case), but when was it exactly? I cannot make any estimation, since this deck was probably sold maybe during 20 or 30 years nonstop.

The case is made of carton, and has an inner part and the outer sleeve. This outer sleeve includes a drawing taken from one of the cards, the name of the company at the time (“Ferd. Piatnik and Söhne - Wien” or “Ferd. Piatnik and sons - Vienna”) and gold bands at the sides. It is quite curious to me, that Piatnik’s horse logo does not appear in this cover, every other quartet by this company I know was decorated with it. The name of the company is slightly different in both sets.

 The decks consist of 36 cards divided in groups of 4, where each card has a drawing (made by W. Mayerl) of a composer or a scene of a famous opera, or a drawing of a monument in a city. The City Quartet also has at the back of the card (which I forgot to photograph) a short text about the land and the cities depicted in the cards, to make the game more educational.

As I usually do when presenting card games, here is every single card in the game:

OPERN QUARTETT:

Peter Iljitsch Tschaikowskij and W.A. Mozart

Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner

Giacomo Puccini and Richard Strauss

 

Karl Maria von Weber and Jules Emile Frédéric Massenet

Albert Lortzing

STÄDTE QUARTETT:

Austria and Switzerland

Germany and Spain

 

U.S.A. and England

 

France and Italy

 

Sweden

 

Instructions for the City Quartet

Update - Older Städte-Quartett with London Bridge on the cover and the cardboard box.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: OPERN QUARTETT and STÄDTE QUARTETT (Nrs. 286 and 287) („OPERA QUARTET“ and “CITY QUARTET”)
• Year: 1957
• Company: Piatnik Wien (Austria)