May 2022
We had only just started collecting playing cards in a more serious way, when this deck was published. But it took about 2 years before it crossed our path. Buying original transformation decks wasn't in our league yet, but we liked the imaginative way in which the pips were often drawn. We had never seen the original Carte Toscane, but were taken by the colouring of this reproduction. So when Osvaldo Menegazzi brought a good number of his reproduction decks to the IPCS convention (Paris, I believe) this was one of the first we bought from him.
The original deck was drawn around 1850 by Adolfo Matarelli, who was born in Florence in 1832 and died in S. Gregorio Bergamasco in 1877.
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Click each ace to see the pips of that suit.
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The deck
consists of 52 cards, 2 jokers and a numbered title card.
Of course the last three didn't come with the original deck.
The backs (and box) show a "fleur de lis" pattern. Often a
reference to France, but used here because it's also the heraldic symbol of
Florence.
The
box isn't a real box, but more a sleeve, which can be closed by a black ribbon
on the right side.
The side of the sleeve has a small
sticker with the title etc. and a small wax stamp.
Inside the cards are held together by a folded piece of light green carton.
