Curse of Scotland Gurney Benham's book about playing cards, in describing the game of Pope Joan he gives his own explanation for why this card is known as the Curse of Scotland: "The crown of Scotland contained only nine stones, as they never could afford a tenth". Eric Partridge's "Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang" considers: “the various theories are as interesting as they are unconvincing”. "Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland" says for "Curse of Scotland" "This is usually taken to be the nine of diamonds playing card, though explanations differ". The 19th century Tarot of Marseilles is one of the standard designs for tarot
Bells (card suit) ("Schellen 7") or, in South Tyrol the 6 of Bells ("Belle, Weli") is the second highest trump card in the game of Watten. The gallery below shows a suit of Bells from a German suited deck of 32 cards, plus the "Weli" or 6 of Bells which is used in some games as an 'honour' card. The main deck is of the Saxonian pattern: Bells (card suit) Bells are a suit in playing cards of the German-suited cards. They correspond to Diamonds in a French deck. The suit is usually known in German as Schellen, but is sometimes abbreviated to