Rose & Pentagram Design 2229 East 34th St., Mpls, MN 55407 U.S.A.(612) 729-4585 E-mail us
Machine-washable fabric boards: Fidchell, Pope Joan, Morris, Backgammon, Ringo, Checkers, Cribbage
Historic & Modern Novelty Dice: Put & Takes, Lord & Lady Dice©, Dragon Dice, Nightmare Dice©, Knucklebones
Period Cards, Early Card Games, Visconti Tarot, Tarot of Marseilles, 16th century German cards, Solitaire cards
Hnefatafl, Cribbage, 17th Century Dominos
Wooden Checkers, Game rule bookets
Our own original Tshirt Designs
Large One-of-a-Kind works of Celtic Art
Gallery of past Knotwork Designs
New works in Progress, or products coming soon.
How we got started/Company history.
Links on history of Games, or for historical reenactors.
Art Shows, Renfaires or reentactments we are attending.
Links to other historic games.
Download our catalog in PDF form to order off-line
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Wholesale Information

Early Cards & Card Games
Compare our prices!
Similar reproduction cards sell for as much as $7.00 to $9.00

Save $6.00 by ordering our Period Cards Collection


Collating decks of our period playing cards
on a slow day at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival


Free card games booklet!

Buy all our three historic playing cards (French, German & English) and we'll give you a free copy of our booklet of early card games
(a $5.00 value).

$15.00 + $3.00 shipping

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3 card set

New!

16th Century
French Cards


This is a reproduction of a deck dated to 1567 that is based on a set of face cards by Pierre Marechal of Rouen, France. The cards of Rouen are significant because many were produced for export to Britain. English merchants are even said to have bought them for re-export to other countries. In 1628 England banned the importation of cards, and English printers have been shown to have used Rouen face cards as inspiration for their own cruder, more stylized decks which have become the standard motifs still used in many modern decks.

This a full 52-card deck without jokers (Jokers were not added until the 19th century.) The backs are blank as was most common on early cards.

$5.00 + $1.34 shipping

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Buy three of our French decks and get our booklet of card games for free!
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Available Wholesale


NEW!
Jost Amman 16th Century German Cards

Dating to 1588 this 52-card deck is based on one of the most significant works of Jost Amman, one of the more prolific artists of the German Renaissance. German printers experimented with a wide range of suit symbols, this deck uses Books, Jars, Printers' Ink Pads and Cups. As was common in German cards, there are no jacks and queens, but rather the German equivalents of an “unter” (“under” with the suit sign at the bottom of the card), an Ober (“over” with the suit sign at the top of the card) and kings on horseback. It also features a female figure as the 10 of each suit.

The art for this deck is based on photos of an original copy. We have enhanced the images to brighten the art, but have tried to keep them faithful to the appearance of the originals.

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Jost Amman Cards


Buy three of our German decks and get our booklet of card games for free!
  Quantity
Available Wholesale

18th Century English Playing Cards

Updated!
Now Full-color face cards!
We recently found documentation to update our English cards with the correct colors for the face cards.

A reproduction of an English deck, circa 1750. One source attributes them to an undocumented printer "Bamford of London" but the initials “HC” on the King of Hearts suggest that the printing blocks may have been originally produced by someone else. Playing cards were printed in England as early as the 1400’s, but the earliest surviving English decks date only to the 1600’s and no colored examples of English face cards have survived that date prior to the 1700’s. The classic style of this deck makes it a good representative of decks used in both Britain and the U.S.A. from the early 18th century up to the late 19th century. Although jokers were not used until the 1800's, we have included jokers inspired by the face cards for games that require them.

Appropriate for Re-enactors from Restoration England to American Civil War.

$5.00 + $1.34 Shipping

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English cards
Available Wholesale

To insure they are useable by a wide range of reenactors (and help keep the cost low) we have specifically avoided recreating a period wrapper, or tax stamp so they are not tied to any one era.

Buy three of our English decks and get our booklet of card games for free!

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American Civil War Era Cards
A facsimile of a deck of cards originally printed by Lawrence and Cohen, they include square-cut corners and two ace of spades (The original blue-colored ace with an American eagle, and a more standard-looking ace for people who find the original one confusing) They come packaged in a box printed with a facsimile of the original 1-cent tax stamps with an1864 cancellation mark.
$6.00 + $1.51 shipping.
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Civil War Cards

These are a great compromise for people who want a period looking deck, but want the durability of a modern coated deck. They have a coating but with a matte finish so they are not as shiny as some plastic coated decks. Although they are based on an American deck, very similar cards were printed both in England and America. In fact, many early American card printers learned their trade in London, or imported the printing plates from England
Buy three of our Civil War Era decks and get our booklet of card games for free!
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Booklet of Period Card Games
We have written our own booklet of games to accompany our period playing cards. We tried select games that do not appear in most standard collections of card games, and are fairly easy to learn -even for non-card players. We have come up with a dozen games that are all documented in Europe prior to 1700, and included a brief history of playing cards in Europe.
$5.00 + $1.00 shipping.
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Tarot Cards & Games
Two of the most important Tarot decks in history

15th Century Visconti Tarot
Believed to be the earliest, and most complete surviving tarot deck. It was commissioned by the Visconti family who were the Dukes of Milan in the 1450's. The face cards and Major Arcana on this beautiful decs have gold foil backgrounds.

Contrary to popular belief, tarot cards were used for games long before they were used for fortune telling. They were the ancestors to modern trump, or trick-taking games.

We also include our booklet with a short history of Tarot cards, and six of the earliest surviving Tarot games.

Visconti Tarot with our Tarot Game Booklet

$25.00/deck + $2.55 shipping

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Full Sized Version Back in Stock!


Visconti tarot

To read more about the Visconti Tarot see this book on Amazon

Tarot of Marseille
Based on the original 18th century design. Lower-class tarot cards have not been found dating to the origin of Tarot games. The Tarot of Marseilles may be the surviving eamples that are closest to the decks that may have been used by the common people during earlier centuries.
We also include our booklet with a short history of Tarot cards, and six games that can be played with them.
Tarot of Marseilles $20.00/deck + $2.55 shipping.
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Tarot Games and History
Tarot cards were used for playing card game long before they were used for divination. So we've written A booklet with a short history of them and included six games including the earliest surviving tarot games dating to the 17th century.

The booklet is included FREE if you order either of the Tarot decks above

$5.00 + $1.34 shipping

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Period Cards Collection
Save $6.00 over ordering our cards separately

One of each of our reproduction playings cards plus your choice of one of our Tarot decks.

1 English deck, 1 French Deck, 1 German Deck, 1 Civil War Deck
1 Tarot Games Booklet, 1 Early Card games Booklet
Your Choice of Tarot deck

Save $6.00 compared to ordering them separately

$40.00 + $6.00 shipping

Qty: Period Card Set w/Visconti Tarot
Qty: Period Card Set w/Tarot of Marseille
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Other Cards
Kama Sutra Cards
A reproduction of a deck of Indian playing cards. The original deck is about 250 years old, and was hand-painted on thin slices of ivory with images of sexual positions from the Kama Sutra. The original art has been digitally re-touched and printed on modern playing card stock. A standard deck of 52 cards plus 2 jokers.
Kama Sutra Cards $10.00/deck + $1.51 shipping.
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Check out our other naughty historic products
Fancy Playing Cards!
This is a modern design, but the costuming and portrait-like designs on the face cards are so beautiful we couldn't resist carrying them also.
"Luxury" cards $10.00/deck + $1.51 shipping.
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Patience/Solitaire Cards
Their small size (Only 2-5/16" x 1 3/4") makes them great for playing Solitaire or "Patience" games in a minimum amount of space. Small enough to play on the tilt-down tray on an airplane, or to keep in your pouch, purse or sporran*! "Patience" cards $5.00/deck + $1.34 shipping.

*The pouch worn in front of a kilt.

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NEW! Period Coins for Gaming

Whether you're a pirate, privateer, or land-bound soldier these replicas of Spanish reales and doubloons will make great props for use along with our period dice and card games. The sets include equal numbers of the coins and a plain drawstring pouch to keep them in. All are about the size of a modern quarter and are made out of zinc just like a modern American penny, so they have an authentic sound as well. We include 5 each of the four styles of coins pictured

20 coins for $10.00+ $2.50 shipping

Order 100 coins and we'll give you a
FREE Put & Take gambling top

The 100 coin set includes 25 of each of the four styles pictured
100 coins + Put & Take $40.00 + $6.55 shipping

These would be a great way to show off your booty on a pirate coat
-Drill a couple holes through them and use them for buttons!