Migros (Crossbow)
I believe that all of the cards that have the crossbow on the ace of bell, were sold by the Swiss retailer Migros. In the 1940s, Migros started as a competitor to other retailers. The philosophy was to sell the products cheaply and that also applied to the playing cards. Therefore, no card manufacturer was willing to print his marks on the playing cards. When I compare the cards with the known card makers, I have no doubt that the first "Migros" cards were printed by Hächler Söhne AG. Not only the court cards and pips indicate this, also when you look at the Hächler deck type "A", you see the same ornamentation on the ace of shield that all Migros decks have.
Type A:
This seems to be the oldest version of the crossbow cards I found.
Size: 88 x 56 mm
- Year: ?
Type B:
In this version, the cards drift off the Hächler Söhne decks. They seem to come closer to the Müller design, but are not the same. Perhaps Hächler outsourced the production for Migros, or Migros took over the production themselves, or from this point on Müller started to produce for Migros. I have found no clues to this, neither in literature about Swiss playing cards, nor from Migros, where I placed a request for more information about this topic.
The crossbow and the ornamentation in the aces of bell and shield are printed in blue colour. This is the first Migros deck where the pips have two indices only. The acorn bases have changed also according the changes the Hächler cards show. Especially noticeable is on the ace of acorn cards where the acorn base is not round any more, but has the shape of a semicircle. The faces of the court cards have changed and look like the ones of the Hächler cards type "D".
Size: 88 x 56 mm - Year: ?
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Type C:
These cards correspond 100% to the Hächler Söhne type "B". All pips have four indices and the shape of the acorns bases are quite round and have a rather rough design. Also note the new (larger) format.
Size: 89 x 57 mm - Year: ?
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Type D:
This is the first deck sold by Migros that looks entirely like the ordinary Müller cards. These cards correspond the Müller type "H".
Size: 89 x 57 mm - Year: 1990 (?)
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Type Ea:
I strongly believe these cards were produced after Carta Mundi bought Müller. On the "official" Müller decks, you can now read the manufacturer information on the king of roses. This also applies to this Migos deck and it corresponds to the Müller type "Ia". Other changes are that the court cards now have suit indices and the pips and banners have four indices.
I also believe that Carta Mundi made a mistake, when they printed these cards. Why? See the next type!
Size: 89 x 57 mm - Year: 2003-2005
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Type Eb:
The Müller cards at this point were modified again and there the manufacturer information was brought on the king of bell. Now Carta Mundi must have noticed that it is not desired to print any makers' marks on the cards sold by Migros, so they removed the according writing from the king of roses.
Size: 89 x 57 mm - Year: from 2005 on
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