Where can I buy non-English Patterned playing cards?

https://www.reddit.com/r/playingcards/comments/1gm7way/where_can_i_buy_nonenglish_patterned_playing_cards/

created by Inkshooter on 08/11/2024 at 02:18 UTC

7 upvotes, 2 top-level comments (showing 2)

By non-English patterned, I mean cards that still have the French suits (Clubs, Spades, Diamonds, Hearts) and ranks (Ace through to Ten, Jack, Queen, King) but have other traditional looks to the face cards besides the one that has become standardized in the English-speaking world.

There are, for example, the Paris pattern or the Belgian-Genoese patterns, which are more lavishly detailed, but none of the big card manufacturers seem to offer it in their catalogues.

Comments

Comment by jhindenberg at 08/11/2024 at 13:01 UTC

4 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Many regional patterns are still produced by multiple companies, however the difficulty can lie in finding them outside of Europe or in adding the cost of international shipping.

An earlier comment has suggested TaroBear's Lair, and while that has been an excellent and reasonably priced US-source for such cards in the past, their stock seems to have dwindled in recent years. They do appear to have 32-card versions[1] of the Paris pattern at present.

1: https://www.tarobearslair.com/categories/french-cards.html

I'll provide a few examples of the Paris pattern as you mentioned it specifically, but as more of a potential help in showing what you might be searching for, rather than an endorsement of any of these particular links as the cheapest or more convenient source:

• Ace[2] - a Cartamundi brand.
• Ducale - I could be mistaken, but it seems as though Cartamundi is making this the 'standard' brand from the former France Cartes portfolio (and shifting Grimaud into something more upscale). At any rate, a few versions[3] seem to be around currently[4].
• Fournier[5] - now also a Cartamundi brand, though a different set of artwork.
• Dal Negro - seems to offer the Paris pattern in plastic[6], as well as 40-card nonindexed Genoese[7] style cards.
• Modiano - only seems to offer an indexless Genoese style in 40[8] or 54-card[9] formats.
• Piatnik[10] - these do not seem to have much of a web presence, though they are listed in their catalogue.

Comment by chongo_gedman at 08/11/2024 at 12:12 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

this site sells a range of European decks: https://www.tarobearslair.com/