microrobert
11-30-2012, 12:21 PM
400-Year-Old Playing Cards Reveal Royal Secret
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me9k5wZzUB1qgjbhq.jpg
Call it a card player’s dream. A complete set of 52 silver playing cards gilded in gold and dating back 400 years has been discovered.
Created in Germany around 1616, the cards were engraved by a man named Michael Frömmer, who created at least one other set of silver cards.
According to a story, backed up by a 19th-century brass plate, the cards were at one point owned by a Portuguese princess who fled the country, cards in hand, after Napoleon’s armies invaded in 1807.
At the time they were created in 1616 no standardized cards existed; different parts of Europe had their own card styles. This particular set uses a suit seen in Italy, with swords, coins, batons and cups in values from ace to 10
400-Year-Old Playing Cards Reveal Royal Secret - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/400-old-playing-cards-reveal-royal-secret-155550393.html)
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me9k5wZzUB1qgjbhq.jpg
Call it a card player’s dream. A complete set of 52 silver playing cards gilded in gold and dating back 400 years has been discovered.
Created in Germany around 1616, the cards were engraved by a man named Michael Frömmer, who created at least one other set of silver cards.
According to a story, backed up by a 19th-century brass plate, the cards were at one point owned by a Portuguese princess who fled the country, cards in hand, after Napoleon’s armies invaded in 1807.
At the time they were created in 1616 no standardized cards existed; different parts of Europe had their own card styles. This particular set uses a suit seen in Italy, with swords, coins, batons and cups in values from ace to 10
400-Year-Old Playing Cards Reveal Royal Secret - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/400-old-playing-cards-reveal-royal-secret-155550393.html)