Turku's Castle Playing Cards (Finland)

[Räpylätassu]

So here in Finland we don't have any custom decks, except this one, (and the L&H deck) Turku's Castle Playing Cards. Turku is the oldest city in Finland and was the most important one until the Tsar Alexander II rebuilt Helsinki in the 19th century.

These cards are 100 % custom and they also have a custom shape, they have round edges. Otherwise they are pretty much bridge sized. Printed by Piatnik in Austria. There are two colors green and light-brown. The courts are real people if I am not mistaken.









If anyone wants any of these PM me!

[jsantafe]

Really looking good!

[Räpylätassu]

I currently have 3 pairs of these unopened, PM me if you wish to get any. I'll also add them to my tradelist.

[Räpylätassu]

1 pair sold, 1 pair on the works of being sold, 1 pair on the works of being traded.

Picked up 3 extra pairs today. Don't be shy to PM me if you want these!

(Also going to donate at least a pair to the UC decks of the year contest as a prize)

[Räpylätassu]

Just noticed that there is a Turku Castle deck from the 60's on ebay. I am guessing that the cards are pretty much tha same as the modern ones, the Ace of Diamonds seems to have a seal mark that the modern ones don't have, I am also pretty sure that the box is somewhat different. Also these appear to be printed in Sweden, where as nowadays they are printed by Piatnik in Austria. The seller is Dutch, and I can vouch for him/her, I have bought decks from him/her before.

Posting this if anyone really wants it, you can also always just contact me and buy as much of the modern ones as you like, it says in my tradelist that I have two pairs to trade, techinally that is true, I have two pairs unopened in my collection right now (+ 1 pair I am giving away in the Decks of the year contest in my mixed brick) but these are sold on a nation wide chain of R-Kiosks all over in Finland and there must be closer to 10 of them in Kuopio alone so I have no problem getting more anytime.

So bid on that 60's version if you really want it, PM me if you want to add any of these to your collection, finding these outside of Finland is quite hard.

[Jock1971]

I have a bit of information on the original decks if anyone here bids for the deck on e-bay.
The deck was printed by F. Tilgmann & Co of Helsingfors-Helsinki for the Turku lithografic press. They started printing the deck around 1939.
All Swedish cards have the tax stamp on the Ace of diamonds (unless it was exported to another country) along with a Tax Band around the tuck box.the stamp used on the pack listed on e-bay was used between 1950 and 1983 when the tax was abolished. and the band was used between 1960 and 1983.
Here is my pack so you can see what the tuck looks like (although someone has used electrical tape to hold it together). My pack was exported to Denmark hence no tax stamp on the Ace of Diamonds but has a Danish import stamp on the back of the tuck which dates my pack to between 1942-1949.

Turun Linna.jpg

Good luck bidding

[Räpylätassu]

Wow. That old school Turku Castle deck looks sick, the design is a bit different, has more of an elegant look. And they are even printed in Finland! I think that I just found my White Whale.

I'm literally always happy when you post Jase, even if it means you know more than me about the only custom deck from my country.

[Jock1971]

Cool Rapylatassu
F. Tilgmann & Co was sold after WWII to Turun Kivipaino O.Y (or Abo Stantryckeri A.B.)
They seem to have produced quite a few custom deck through the years (and a lot of them convex shaped) "Korupeli Kortteja", "Valtti" and "Palett" to name a few.
i may be interested in a couple of those new prints but not now as i have a few things on. Will contact you next week sometime with a trade maybe??? i got a spare F. Schick circus transformation deck if your interested

Circus Transformation Pack By F.R. Schick.jpg

[Räpylätassu]

PM any time that suits you, I would be very much so interested to trade

[Merlebird]

These cards are 100 % custom and they also have a custom shape, they have round edges. Otherwise they are pretty much bridge sized. Printed by Piatnik in Austria[....]

It's interesting to compare these with Jock1971's edition of the deck, because somewhere between his printing and yours the decision was made to actually crop out some of the artwork. You can see this particularly looking at the JoC and the KoS, who both clearly used to have hands:

Turun Linna.jpg (135.38 KiB) Viewed 6576 times

I know Piatnik tends to favor those very abrupt joins (with the stark black line) in the middle of their card art, but with the more elegant joins already existing in the older artwork it's a real shame the decision was made to crop them out. I'm assuming it was done to cut the cards down to bridge size - Jock can confirm whether his set is, as it appears, closer to tarot size - but if their concern was to standardize the card dimensions it seems odd to me that the curvilinear card shapes were retained.

Shame, but the Piatnikification of the cards makes them almost totally unappealing to me. But if any of you ever have a line on the older version with the uncropped court art, you know where to find me....

[Jock1971]

Jock can confirm whether his set is, as it appears, closer to tarot size

My set is pretty much Bridge sized, like the Piatnik set.

[Räpylätassu]

Merlebird, you are right that black line really dampens the design, but you can see from the 60's deck on ebay that was printed in Sweden that the design was like that even then, so the design was changed before Piatnik started printing these.

I actually just contacted Piatnik and asked if there is a possibilty that they would do a restoration of the decks that were printed in Helsinki. I know that that is quite a long shot, but would really be sick.

[Jock1971]

you can see from the 60's deck on ebay that was printed in Sweden that the design was like that even then

Was looking through the Fournier Museum Catalogue and they have a deck listed as 1952 and the design is cropped similar to the piatnik deck, must have been the only the very early printings with the "full" artwork
The Fournier catalogue also mentions that the court cards are reproductions of existing portraits that are hanging in the Castle Abo Slott.
i will need to do more digging but a couple can be found here
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... ter_Castle

[Räpylätassu]

Funny thing actually about Turku, they are often mocked by the people in the rest of Finland. The most classic is of course the saying: "Turku on Suomen persereikä." meaning "Turku is the a*shole of Finland."

Couple of jokes about Turku:

What are the best things in Turku?
-The signposts to Helsinki and Tampere

How do you know that the people in Åland f*ck seals?
-Because of the people in Turku!

[Räpylätassu]

I managed to got my White Whale deck, a Turku Castle deck that was printed in Finland in the 1940's from an auction from Sweden, thanks to the help of Lorenzo some weeks ago. And now that I am back from Italy, I finally have it.

















As you can see, the 1940's deck looks way, way better than the modern ones. Not only is the design better, but the coloring too. Sadly, all the decks after the 40's have the new look, so it does not matter if you got a Turku Castle deck from the 50's, 90's or 2019, they are all the same, except the printer has changed during that time.

It's a gorgeous old deck and as a Finn, I always try to have good looking Finnish custom decks, sadly there aren't that many.

[Bradius]

Roop, congrats on getting a hugely difficult white whale! That is awesome and couldn’t go to a more deserving playing card collector. It is a gorgeous deck and in great condition for its age. Thanks Lorenzo for helping Roop out on this.

[rousselle]

Roop, congrats on getting a hugely difficult white whale! That is awesome and couldn’t go to a more deserving playing card collector. It is a gorgeous deck and in great condition for its age. Thanks Lorenzo for helping Roop out on this.

+1

[redux]

I won an original 1940s deck of these! I placed a bid and surprisingly no one else came for it. Hopefully I didn't overpay, but I just thought it would be cool to bring these back to Finland, where they were manufactured.

s-l500.jpg (25.43 KiB) Viewed 5672 times

[kat11366]

If I am not mistaking, you got it from Jopo...I wouldn't worry, he eats, drinks and breathes cards and his prices are always very reasonable.
I got a reprint deck from our friend Roope some time ago, if I am remembering well... a very nice deck indeed....

[redux]

If I am not mistaking, you got it from Jopo...I wouldn't worry, he eats, drinks and breathes cards and his prices are always very reasonable.

Ok thanks! I'm still not so familiar with people in this community, so forgive me my doubts.

[Räpylätassu]

I think that the price is pretty just. The tuck box seems to be in great condition, which is not the case with the one that I have.

Plus these are quite damn rare.... I know that Jock1971 should have one, I have one and now you have one... Those are the only ones I have seen so far.

If I had a job right now, I would have battled you for this one

[redux]

If I had a job right now, I would have battled you for this one

You would have won, because I literally placed one bid and went to bed!

[Räpylätassu]

If I had a job right now, I would have battled you for this one

You would have won, because I literally placed one bid and went to bed!

I fell asleep at 5 pm lol... I even missed a KuPS game that I had been hyped about all day, then an hour before it begun I fell asleep and missed it

[brownsl]

I got a deck of these and it was delivered while I was out of town. I will be opening it up this evening. I will post pictures soon.

[brownsl]

So, I looked at my deck and it is not the deck from the 40s. However, I still like them but will keep looking for the 40s deck.

[redux]

So, I looked at my deck and it is not the deck from the 40s. However, I still like them but will keep looking for the 40s deck.

20200625_222213_compress70.jpg

Those still seem to be older than a reprint deck I have. Tuck case is a bit different and court cards look slightly different. Well I bought my decks online in Finland...it was a year or two ago.

[redux]

I got my original deck. I'm amazed how well preserved they are. Very nice! The art really looks better than the reprints.

[redux]

I won these today. Any idea of the year of manufacture? These seem to be newer than the 1940's deck I own, but there's still Turun kivipaino written on the seal. No tuck unfortunately.

[redux]

I found a listing with old cards, without the line that divides the court cards. Different tuck case, so not technically Turku Castle deck, but interesting nonetheless.
Not in very good condition though.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175569922617

[Eric Lee]

I found a listing with old cards, without the line that divides the court cards. Different tuck case, so not technically Turku Castle deck, but interesting nonetheless.
Not in very good condition though.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175569922617

Ah man, missed it. Thanks for posting these here.