Swiss card deck - 1850 - Banner of Shields

The ''Banner'' is a

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...

used in Swiss-suited cards and which historically formed part of the standard 36- or 48-card

German-suited pack German-suited playing cards are a very common style of traditional playing card used in many parts of Central Europe characterised by 32- or 36-card packs with the suits of Acorns (''Eichel'' or ''Kreuz''), Leaves (''Grün'', ''Blatt'', ''Laub ...

s. It is equivalent to a 10, being ranked between a 9 and an '' Unter'' (or ''Under'' in Swiss German).

Name

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, ' means “flag” or “banner” and is pronounced . It is grammatically neuter and its plural is the same: Banner. Historically it was also spelt ''Panier''.

Characteristics

German-speaking Switzerland The German-speaking part of Switzerland (german: Deutschschweiz, french: Suisse alémanique, it, Svizzera tedesca, rm, Svizra tudestga) comprises about 65 percent of Switzerland (North Western Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland, Central Switze ...

, to the east of the

Brünig-Napf-Reuss line The Brünig-Napf-Reuss line forms a geographical boundary in traditional Swiss culture ('' Kulturgrenze''). Running from the Brünig Pass along the Napf region to the Reuss (which joins the Aare at Brugg), it partly separates western (Bernese Germa ...

(the German-speaking part of Switzerland corresponding to the centre and east of the country), the most popular card deck is a pack of 36 cards with the Swiss

suit A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of tr ...

symbols of Acorns, Bells,

Roses A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

and

Shields A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

and numbered as follows: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or Banner, Unter, Ober,

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

and

Deuce Deuce, Deuces, or The Deuce may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Deuce, in the ''Danger Girl'' comic book series * Deuce, a character in ''Shake It Up'' * Deuce, in the ''Wild Cards'' science fiction universe * Deuce Biga ...

''. While the pip cards 6 to 9 display a number of suit symbols corresponding to the number of the card, the 10 follows a different scheme. It has only one example of the suit symbol, much larger than on the other cards, depicted on a

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...

floating in the wind, which gives the card its name. Like the

court card A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance w ...

s, the Banners are double-ended in modern packs, the image begin repeated symmetrically about a diagonal line through the card, represented by the

flagpole A flagpole, flagmast, flagstaff, or staff is a pole designed to support a flag. If it is taller than can be easily reached to raise the flag, a cord is used, looping around a pulley at the top of the pole with the ends tied at the bottom. The fla ...

. Older patterns are sometimes single-ended.

History

The Swiss Banner may be derived from old card games from the German-speaking regions of Europe which were based on a

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

theme, where cards worth ten points were also represented by a banner such as the

Ambraser Hofjagdspiel The Ambraser Hofjagdspiel (Court Hunting Pack of Ambras), also called the "Ambras falconer cards", is a pack of cards painted around 1440–1445 and attributed to the engraver Konrad Witz from Basle, Switzerland. It originally consisted of fif ...

and

Stuttgarter Kartenspiel The Stuttgart pack or Stuttgart Cards (german: Stuttgarter Kartenspiel) is one of the most valuable collections of the Landesmuseum Württemberg. It is a hunting-themed deck of playing cards painted on gilded pasteboard dating to around 1430.Wintl ...

Gallery

File:BH from 48 German Cards.jpg, Banner of Hearts from a 48-card, German-suited, German pattern pack dating to c. 1545 File:BL from Poland.jpg, Banner of Leaves from a 48-card, German-suited, Polish pattern pack dating to 1537

References

{{Playing card Playing cards Swiss culture

Name

Characteristics

History

Gallery

See also

References