page_title: ASS Altenburger
section_title: Merger
hierarchical_section_title: ASS Altenburger / History / Merger
caption_attribution_description: English: cover cards: left for skat deck with jack of clubs and manufacturer declarations, middle for skat with skat rules in short form, right (2×) for patience with king of hearts and manufacturer declarations Deutsch: Deckblätter: links für Skatblatt mit Kreuz-Bube und Herstellerangaben, mitte für Skatblatt mit Skatregeln in Kurzform, rechts (2×) für Patienceblatt mit Herz-König und Herstellerangaben
context_page_description: 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 claims to be the market leader in Germany for playing cards. Every year almost 40 million packs of cards of many different types are manufactured in Altenburg.
context_section_description: At the shareholder's meeting on 14 February 1931 it was decided to merge the premises in Stralsund and Altenburg and to move the firm to Thuringia. The company was renamed to the United Altenburg and Stralsund Playing Card Company (Vereinigte Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkarten-Fabriken, A.G., Altenburg) or ASS. That same year the company moved its head office from Stralsund to Altenburg. Production at Stralsund ceased in September 1931 .
  After the Second World War the company was divided for more than 40 years: The ASS was expropriated and dismantled in 1946 and the company re-established by former shareholders in Mannheim, then moved to Leinfelden in 1956.
  In Altenburg itself, operations resumed on 3 May 1946. The playing-card factory was part of a state-owned business in the state of Thuringia. Eleven years later it became the Volkseigener Betrieb of Altenburg Playing Card Company (Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik, Altenburg Thüringen). Its trademark and logo was Cœur (a heart symbol).
  After the Wende the Altenburg firm was re-privatised in 1991 under the name of Altenburg Playing Card Company (Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik) and sold by the Treuhand to the United Munich Playing Card Company (Vereinigte Münchener Spielkartenfabriken) of F.X. Schmid. In 1996 the playing card range of F. X. Schmid was integrated into the production at Altenburg; F. X. Schmid was taken over by Ravensburger, the largest European game and puzzle manufacturers. That year, ASS lost a name dispute with the United Altenburger and Stralsund Playing Card Company (Vereinigte Altenburger und Stralsunder Spielkartenfabriken) in Leinfelden. It was forced to rename itself and chose the name Spielkartenfabrik Altenburg. Some time afterwards the Leinfelder concern went bankrupt and went, as ASS Spielkarten, to the Berliner Blatz-Group (Schmidt Spiele). Its head office moved to Steinenbronn on 1 October 1996.
  In 1999 Ravensburger took over Berliner Spielkarten. Altenburg even produced cards for this subsidiary. In 2000, the brand of Berliner Spielkarten was integrated, along with its additional product fields of games and puzzles, into ASS. The site at Altenburg was developed into one of the most important production sites for playing cards of all types in Europe.
caption: Playing cards. Left: card with the inscription Coeur
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