Clockwork: Montana Mustache Manufacturing Co. Playing Cards by fig 23
stephenbrandt
The inspiration of the Pips
Designer Stephen Brandt was bored and decided to binge-watch a bunch of Harry Potter movies. In one of the earlier ones he noticed an interesting textile pattern on the quidditch arena towers, perhaps representing house Gryffindor; he recognized it as a medieval motif.
Looking similar to a club, he was inspired the other three. It worked very well with the late 1800's theme of the Montana deck, the higher numbers of the spade and club cards having a forest-like feel.