THE VARIATIONS
The first deck is a lady sized version. In 1940 playing cards
were already printed in offset. This means that the original designs had to be
redrawn, so there are quite a bit of little differences in details, but the
general design remains intact.....as it should with a standard pattern. The
white ermine band on the Queens may be a bit broader, just like the orange one
on the Jacks, and the beards of the Kings may be trimmed a bit, all these
details were not added to the original designs, just altered a bit. However,
there was one detail actually added to the original design. On the collar of the
Jack of Clubs there are suit signs in the offset versions, which were not in the
lithographic versions.
In the normal sized deck from 1955 here below this detail is more recognizable.
There's a vague tax stamp on the Ace of Hearts. These tax stamps were in use
until 1960.
The 3rd deck is a variation by Oberg, with the full names as indices and a number on the courts.
The deck here below is what we call an "anomaly". Completely different designs, but in pose and colouring still recognizable as the standard pattern. There's no maker's name on the Ace of Hearts. The name of the publisher is on the Ace of Spades, which is a bit odd, but the Joker refers to the standard Oberg joker, so the deck was probably produced by Oberg too. The Joker is signed by the artist as "Jerker - 06", so that dates the deck as most likely 2006/07.
The last deck wasn't made in Sweden, but only published there. The designs are not close to those in the original versions, but by using the same colours per suit it's still very recognizable for the Swedish players. The name of the publisher is on the Ace of Hearts. The joker is a standard joker of F.X. Schmid from Munich, Germany.
