Gypsy Cards History ...
A year ago my partner and I wrote a book in Serbian language about Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards. And just about month ago I published the English version of the named book: "Gypsy Cards in a New Light."
In my introduction in the book, I also had a problem regarding the history of this fine deck. I contacted Piatnik company, and they gave me the permission to use their deck in my book, but they could not help me with the information about the origins and history of the Gypsy Cards deck.
So, my subjective conclusion, which is part of the Introduction follows:
"Literature on the subject of Gypsy cards is almost nonexistent (territory of the former Yugoslavia). At the end of the book, where you would expect to see the list of literary works that we used, you will find nothing. So far, we have encountered one handbook for interpreting Gypsy cards (Stela Look, Priručnik za sudbinske karte (Handbook for Destiny Cards), Zagreb 2010, 70 pages) and one book (Esther Gombor, Fortune Telling with Gypsy Cards). They are the only available pieces of literature known to us. We did not have an opportunity to read any of these two works. Since we were not able to use other works on this subject, everything you can find in this book is the result of effort and creativity of the authors. A small part of the material was transferred to us verbally, and we ourselves conceptualized everything else. Therefore, it represents the product of our research and many years of work.
Although Gypsy cards have been present for many years, we have not been able to find reliable information on their origin. We even wrote to “Piatnik,” the company that manufactures the original cards of the Gypsy deck, asking them to provide us an insight in the history of their creation, but they also were not able to help us find more pieces of information. However, they were kind enough to allow us to use the pictures of the original cards, and we use this opportunity to thank them kindly. Anyway, we do not know almost anything about the history of cards. We even do not have any data on who the author is, when they were created, or how they ended up in this part of the world. On the basis of the images presented on the cards, we can conclude that the period of their creation was the second half of the 19th century. Of course, this does not mean that we are certainly right. Kipper cards and Madam Van Helsing deck are also decks from a similar era. The former contains 36, and the latter 52 cards. The former originates from Germany and the latter from Italy. The former uses the terms identical with the Gypsy deck, only the pictures are different, while the latter contains some new additional terms. We would also like to mention Lenormand cards, and the fact that there are allegations that the Gypsy deck is their copy, in which we are not very convinced. We would like this book to reach the hands of people who have accurate information on the origin of the deck, so that some of them could contact us and present genuine information. If that happens, we will find a way to share it with you.
You can perceive that the motives on the card pictures have nothing to do with the Gypsy people. You can also perceive that, in the card pictures, most people are dressed in the way which exudes the atmosphere of a European metropolis at the end of the nineteenth century. Therefore, we assume that the author of the cards was a city gentleman or lady. The clothing, uniforms and buildings in the pictures are typical of and indicate to Central or Western Europe. We would say that the country of origin of these cards is Austria, or perhaps Hungary. The fact that the company which manufactures the cards is from Austria, and that Ferdinand Piatnik, the man who established the company, was born in Budapest, and also the card pictures lead us to that conclusion. Take a look at the way of dressing in Austria and Hungary at the end of the nineteenth century, and you will understand everything. At the time, it was one country, Austria-Hungary.
The capital city, Vienna, is especially interesting, known for gentlemen, waltzes and refined manners, but on the other hand, it was also known for a large number of Gypsies who lived in the suburbs or just passed through the city. Nowadays, the situation is similar. It is very likely that a gentleman or lady from Austria-Hungary created these cards in Vienna in the second half of the nineteenth century, not even dreaming that they would appeal to the Gypsies, who had fortune-telling and auguring in their blood. The cards became a tool for their work. Thus, the traveling Gypsy women, fortune-telling at fairs, interpreting cards at squares and in the streets, made this deck famous in Central and Western Europe, and then it reached the farthest corners of the world. These women passed on from generation to generation their skills of card arrangement and interpretation, and they also passed it on to the people they chose. However, the author had to give up on popularity in favor of the Gypsies. It is no longer his/her deck, but the Gypsy deck for fortune-telling. The name “Gypsy cards” has remained and it lasts. Unfortunately, no one knows about the ingenious author of the cards. On this occasion, we would like to express our deep gratitude to him or her, and we hope that someday we will find out his or her honorable name, or perhaps the names of people who also participated in the creation of the Gypsy deck. Thank you, the unknown author, for creating the cards, but also thank you, the Gypsies, for bringing them to us."
