Master PW - an early 5x14 deck
- has a similar structure as the first Trionfi decks

Cologne (1470 ?, 1477?, 1500 ?), well known for his round playing cards
Engravings with aquarell, diameter 7 cm, copied by Telman von Wesel. Later the Cologne engraver Johann Bussemecher was involved, who imitated the suits in a deck from 1591.
See: Deck of Johann Bussemecher

The deck has 5 suits: Roses, akeleys, columbines, parrots and hairs (3 suits are flowers, 2 are animals). The court cards of the columbines and hair suits are turned to the left, the other 3 to the right. The court cards have occasionally a funny expression. 2 special cards with indestinct function, one shows Death grabbing a nude woman, a second shows 3 crowns (probably that of the holy 3 kings, whose bones are relics in the Cologne dome) and an inscription Salve Felix Colonia.

The original deck is in Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kupferstichkabinett.
Details in Hoffmann, Welt der Spielkarte Abb. 30b + p. 25 and 166
Deck reprinted by "Edition Leipzig" in 1974

Woman with Death
 Salve Felix Colonia
Back
 Box

Full deck, dimension 56x87 mm

columbines hares parrots pinks roses
ace ace ace ace ace
king king king king king
queen queen queen queen queen
high_jack high_jack high_jack high_jack high_jack
low_jack low_jack low_jack low_jack low_jack
10 10 10 10 10
9 9 9 9 9
8 8 8 8 8
7 7 7 7 7
6 6 6 6 6
5 5 5 5 5
4 4 4 4 4
3 3 3 3 3
2 2 2 2 2

there is a book "A pack of cards by Master PW"
Images supplied by Ulrich Knupfer