Bells () () is one of the four

playing card suit In playing cards, a suit is one of the categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several pips (symbols) showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or additionally be indicated ...

s in a deck of Swiss-suited and

German-suited playing cards German-suited playing cards are a very common style of traditional playing card used in many parts of Central Europe characterised by 32- or 36-card packs with the suits of Acorns (''Eichel'' or ''Kreuz''), Leaves (''Grün'', ''Blatt'', ''Lau ...

. Unlike the other German suits, this suit was not adapted by French card makers. In its place, there was initially a suit of red crescents until the suit of

Diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insol ...

was added to the

French pack French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. In ...

(known as tiles in France). The suit is usually known in German as , but is sometimes abbreviated to . Cards are referred to as in a French deck e.g. the "9 of Bells", but in German as , or the "Unter of Bells" ( or ). Bells are the lowest suit in Skat,

Schafkopf Schafkopf (, lit. 'sheep's head'), also called Bavarian Schafkopf, is a popular German Trick-taking game, trick-taking card game of the ace–ten family for four players that evolved, towards the end of the 19th century, from German Schafkopf. ...

and

Doppelkopf Doppelkopf (, lit. ''double-head''), sometimes abbreviated to Doko, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game for four players. In Germany, Doppelkopf is nearly as popular as Skat (card game), Skat, especially in Northern Germany and the R ...

, but the second highest in

Préférence Préférence, frequently spelt Preference, is a Central Europe, Central and Eastern European 10-card plain-trick game with bidding (cards), bidding, played by three players with a 32-card Piquet deck, and probably originating in early 19th centur ...

. The suit of bells specifically depict hawk-bells which are used in

falconry Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person ...

. As such, they are reminiscent of the falcon suit used in earlier German hunting decks such as the

Ambraser Hofjagdspiel The Ambraser Hofjagdspiel (Court Hunting Pack of Ambras; sometimes the Ambras falconer cards or the Courtly Hunt Cards) is a pack of cards painted around 1440–1445 and attributed to the engraver Konrad Witz from Basel, Switzerland. It origin ...

and

Stuttgart pack The Stuttgart pack or Stuttgart Cards () is one of the most valuable collections of the Landesmuseum Württemberg. It is a hunting-themed deck of playing cards painted on gilded pasteboard dating to around 1430.Wintle, Adam''Stuttgart pack, c.143 ...

. The standard German-suited system of

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

acorns Acorns may refer to: * Plural of acorn, the nut of the oak tree * Acorns (company) Acorns is an American financial technology and financial services company. Based in Irvine, California, Acorns specializes in micro-investing and robo advice ...

, hearts, and bells appears in the majority of cards from 1460 onwards. There is no evidence for this system prior to this point. Bells appear as one of four suits alongside feathers, hats, and

shields A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry like spears or long ranged projectiles suc ...

in several incomplete packs made in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. The dates for these packs range from 1470 to about 1529. The 10-rank card utilizes pips rather than the characteristic

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...

. Bells appear as one of four suits alongside crowns, shields, and acorns in a set of mutilated cards possibly made in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

in 1480. The standard four Swiss-German suits of shields, acorns, hawkbells and

flowers Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

were found in playing cards inside a book cover (circa 1530) made in Basel. These cards feature the distinguishing banner replacing the 10-rank, and have the three court cards: King seated in a throne, Ober, and Unter. This Swiss-German suit system is believed to have developed earlier with the earliest example dated between 1433 and 1451, though only cards from the shields suit survived.

Weli

In a 32-card pack the lowest card is a 7; in 36-card packs it is a 6. In

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, the 6 of Bells often has special powers, typically being

wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildlife, an undomesticated organism * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild ...

, and is known as the ''

Weli The ''Weli'', formerly ''Welli'', is a playing card used in the Salzburg and William Tell card decks, which are Austrian regional patterns of the German-suited playing cards. It has the value of 6 of Bells and, in the South Tyrol variant of ...

'', ''Welli'' or ''Belle''. In

William Tell William Tell (, ; ; ; ) is a legendary folk hero of Switzerland. He is known for shooting an apple off his son's head. According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a crossbow who assassinated Albrecht Gessler, ...

and

Salzburg pattern German-suited playing cards are a very common style of traditional playing card used in many parts of Central Europe characterised by 32- or 36-card packs with the suits of Acorns (''Eichel'' or ''Kreuz''), Leaves (''Grün'', ''Blatt'', ''Laub ...

cards, the Weli bears the additional suit symbols for Hearts and Acorns in recognition of this role. It may also be promoted to become a high trump card, for example, it is the second highest trump card in the popular Austrian game of Watten.

Gallery

German pattern

The gallery below shows the suit of Bells from a German suited pack, Saxon pattern pack of 32 cards. This pattern was traditionally used in Saxony and is still made by

ASS Altenburger ASS Altenburger is since 2003 the trademark of the German playing card manufacturer Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg, based in the town of Altenburg. The firm is owned by Cartamundi, of Turnhout, Belgium. ASS (''Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkarten ...

. File:Saxonian Deck - Bells - 07.jpg , 7 File:Saxonian Deck - Bells - 08.jpg , 8 File:Saxonian Deck - Bells - 09.jpg , 9 File:Saxonian Deck - Bells - 10.jpg, 10 File:Saxonian Deck - Bells - Unter.jpg , Unter File:Saxonian Deck - Bells - Ober.jpg ,

Ober Ober may refer to: * Ober (playing card), court card in the German and Swiss styles of playing cards * Ober, Indiana, an unincorporated community in Washington Township, Starke County * Oberek (also ''ober''), a lively Polish dance in triple metre ...

File:Saxonian Deck - Bells - King.jpg ,

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

File:Saxonian Deck - Bells - Deuce.jpg, Deuce

Swiss-German pattern

The following images depict the suit of Bells from an 1850 Swiss-suited pack: File:Swiss card deck - 1850 - 6 of Bells.jpg, 6 File:Swiss card deck - 1850 - 7 of Bells.jpg, 7 File:Swiss card deck - 1850 - 8 of Bells.jpg, 8 File:Swiss card deck - 1850 - 9 of Bells.jpg, 9 File:Swiss card deck - 1850 - Banner of Bells.jpg,

Banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...

File:Swiss card deck - 1850 - Under of Bells.jpg, Unter File:Swiss card deck - 1850 - Ober of Bells.jpg,

File:Swiss card deck - 1850 - King of Bells.jpg,

File:Swiss card deck - 1850 - 2 of Bells.jpg, Deuce

References

Card suits {{card-game-stub