Extinct Portuguese pattern Spanish playing cards

knights version of portuguese pattern (1693).

latin-suited cards (with cups, swords, coins , clubs in spain) used in portugal since late middle ages until late 19th , 20th centuries when these cards abandoned in favour of french deck. popular games arrenegada (portuguese name ombre), bisca (portuguese name briscola) , sueca, played latin-suited cards, had adapted new french-suited cards. thus:

the old suit names attributed new suits - reason why portuguese names suits don t match suit drawings. in portuguese, hearts suit called copas ( cups ), spades suit called espadas ( swords ), diamonds suit called ouros ( gold coins ), , clubs suit called paus ( clubs or sticks ).
the new face cards (king, queen, jack) had match old ones (king, knight, knave). king match obvious one, queen held lower court card because old portuguese sotas female, , matched knave. jack thought knight (cavalier). thus, in traditional portuguese games, cards rank king-jack-queen.

both conventions mentioned above practiced in malta once used portuguese-suited decks. extinct portuguese deck featured straight swords , knobbly clubs spanish suits intersected them northern italian suits. aces featured dragons, kings seated, , knaves distinctly female. closest living relative of portuguese deck sicilian tarot has these features minus aces. extinct minchiate deck shared features. system believed have originated in spain export pattern. spanish spread portugal, southern italy, malta, spanish netherlands, , far peru never popular in homeland. instead of using la pinta, these decks used abbreviations indices @ top , bottom of card. difference between portuguese , italo-portuguese patterns portuguese decks lacked rank 10 pip cards spanish patterns, while italo-portuguese decks have them northern italian patterns.

in 1769, real fábrica de cartas de jogar set in lisbon manufacture cards. made several graphical changes such getting rid of indices , making kings stand spanish counterparts. when domestic production shut down around 1870, manufacture shifted abroad, belgium , germany makers introduced further changes.

the portuguese spread cards brazil , java abandoned in favor of french deck. portuguese decks started development of karuta in japan though decks bear little resemblance ancestor.