Toscana Playing Cards

Published by Cavallini and Co.
San Francisco, CA

More than a period reproduction, this deck is also a visually pleasing and intriguing transformation deck, one of the better ones I have. Adolfo Matarelli, the deck's designer, shows a real flair for using intricate designs to hide the pips, making especially clever use of negative space in the difficult clubs and spades suits.

The deck is a relatively well-made reproduction, making few concessions to modern manufacturing techniques. I wish I knew which house in Italy published it, though I was once tempted to think it was Solleonecarte, given their own offerings in the area of reproduction decks. But I've since discovered that they have their own edition of this deck published. The Cavallini deck is mostly sold in museum-replica stores or expensive curio shops, but is fairly widely available. Perhaps Cavallini will make enough money on it to publish more.

Much to its credit, the deck also comes with a short introduction and explication printed on an exta card:

TOSCANA Playing Cards

These limited edition playing cards were named for the Tuscan region of Italy from which they originate. They were created around 1850, just as the Victorian Age was making card and parlor games the greatest pastimes. The designer of these cards was a then well-known caricaturist, Adolfo Matarelli (1832-1877). Matarelli himself seems to have moved into obscurity, but the rare and clever designs of his Toscana playing cards are once again proving a favorite among card players and collectors.

Each deck is a standard playing deck, made up of 52 cards, two jokers and four suits. The cards are packaged in a handmade box.

Made in Italy for
CAVALLINI & CO. San Francisco

You may have noted that I tend to show the Ace of Spades, the Seven of Hearts, the Jack of Diamonds and the Queen of Clubs as my display cards because they give a good overview of all the facets of a deck. But here, I've broken with that pattern to show some of the more intricate and attractive cards in this set, with only one token face card (not that it is any less attractive). These images are each about 60K, so be patient.