day of the stamp - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1967 - 3.50 Shilling

As a motive of this year's special stamp on the day of the stamp, the letter bid card from the Ambraser Hofkartenspiel was chosen. It comes from the second oldest game of the collection of Archduke Ferdinand, who was known as Lord of Castle Ambras near Innsbruck for its magnificent Renaissance court yard. In his collections you will find the oldest surviving card games. Playing cards were first mentioned in Europe in 1299 and should have been very popular in the 14th century, as card games were already banned. Archduke Ferdinand, of course, has collected only very nice card games. His oldest playing cards date back to the middle of the 15th century. This hand-drawn and painted game is the artistically most significant. The French card game, probably made in the lifetime of the Archduke, was kept in a book of fixation, which can be opened in six different places. 50 by 40 centimeter cards with apples, pears, figs and pomegranates as card colors are called "the card game for giants". Richly dressed monkeys are the figures. One sees almost no signs of wear and tear, a sign that one was already aware from the beginning of the importance of the game, which was that the courts of the Roman-German Empire, the kings of Hungary, Bohemia, and France are presented original.