Andy's Playing Cards - Spanish-suited Cards

THE MODERN PATTERNS
Today the Castilian pattern is undoubtly the main one used in the homeland.
For about three centuries the national Spanish pattern had remained fairly stable; but during the 1800s new manufacturers and new printing techniques caused winds of change to blow over the country.

Castilian pattern by Pag S.A., Spain; the last subject
on the right in the bottom row is a comodin (extra card) The first remarkable attempt to diverge from tradition was the successful edition issued in 1810 by Clemente Roxas (see page 3), in which refined and colourful Neoclassical illustrations replaced the old-looking woodblock prints. Then, during the second half of the century, Heraclio Fournier printed more prize-winning editions, whose style was more inspired by the Romantic age. Towards the end of the 1800s, one of these variants, innovative yet sober enough to be accepted by card players, became popular enough, and during the 20th century gradually spread from **** to the rest of the country, replacing any other design, thus becoming the modern national pattern of Spain.

These are some of its distinctive features:

Coins: a head is featured on each pip.
Cups: the inside of the cups is not visible, as they are usually covered by a top, or sometimes have a convex upper rim.
Swords: in pip cards from 4 to 7 (or to 9, in extended editions), their blade is short and often triangular, while the ones in the 2, the 3, and those held by court personages are regular.
Batons: the cudgels are rather smooth, with a narrow handle and a broad rounded end; the one shown in the ace has a few thin twigs, and is wrapped by a ribbon.
The horses mounted by the cavaliers are not rampant.
All the kings wear beards.

Castilian pattern by Comas, Spain
When decks used to carry a tax stamp (i.e. up to 1979), it was placed on the 5 of Swords.

non-standard Castilian pattern by Fournier (Spain);
the Coins suit shows Spanish heraldic crests, while
Batons feature Moorish personages The Castilian pattern is printed by different manufacturers; each of them has his own design, which in some degree differs from other editions. In particular, the country's main firm Fournier produces a whole range of them, labelling the editions simply with their catalogue numbers (No.1, No.32, No.55, etc.).
Some of them, such as the one shown on the left, differ from the standard design, and may be listed as non-standard variants. The large group of Spanish-suited cards, though, also includes several editions much more fancy than these ones, different samples of which were already produced since the early 19th century. A small selection of them is presented in page 3.

The other classic pattern is the Catalan one, now uncommon in Spain, despite its name, but widely used in Latin America, as described in page 4. It is one of the two designs that during the first half of the 19th century developed from the old national pattern when the latter became obsolete; the other one is the Cadíz (see page 5).

It maintains a more naive look than the Castilian one, although many details have been simplified. Its main features are:

Coins: the pips are decorated with geometrical motifs.
Cups: the cups are shaped as chalices, with an open upper half, which makes their inside partly visible.
Swords: in all subjects their shape is long and straight.
Batons: the cudgels are rougher, and especially the large one on the ace has thicker branches along its shaft, without a ribbon.
Due to the naive design, the horses mounted by the cavaliers are small, disproportioned; all of them are rampant.
The kings do not wear beards, although some of them wear a moustache; their shape broadens at the shoulders and at the bottom, while it is tapered in the central part, almost as an hourglass.

two samples of Catalan pattern: (above) Tití Brand by Fournier and
(below) by Maestros Naiperos Españoles

different shape of Coins and Batons in Castilian (left) and Catalan patterns In both Castilian and Catalan patterns, the 4 of Cups usually has its central blank space filled either with the manufacturer's logo or with a text in praise of the quality of the cards. In Castilian editions a text can also be found on the 4 of Coins, or on the 2 of Swords, or on both.

MINOR VARIETIES

Castilian pattern by Pag S.A., Spain; the last subject on the right in the bottom row is a comodin (extra card)		The first remarkable attempt to diverge from tradition was the successful edition issued in 1810 by Clemente Roxas (see page 3), in which refined and colourful Neoclassical illustrations replaced the old-looking woodblock prints. Then, during the second half of the century, Heraclio Fournier printed more prize-winning editions, whose style was more inspired by the Romantic age. Towards the end of the 1800s, one of these variants, innovative yet sober enough to be accepted by card players, became popular enough, and during the 20th century gradually spread from **** to the rest of the country, replacing any other design, thus becoming the modern national pattern of Spain.

Coins: a head is featured on each pip. Cups: the inside of the cups is not visible, as they are usually covered by a top, or sometimes have a convex upper rim. Swords: in pip cards from 4 to 7 (or to 9, in extended editions), their blade is short and often triangular, while the ones in the 2, the 3, and those held by court personages are regular. Batons: the cudgels are rather smooth, with a narrow handle and a broad rounded end; the one shown in the ace has a few thin twigs, and is wrapped by a ribbon. The horses mounted by the cavaliers are not rampant. All the kings wear beards.		Castilian pattern by Comas, Spain

non-standard Castilian pattern by Fournier (Spain); the Coins suit shows Spanish heraldic crests, while Batons feature Moorish personages	The Castilian pattern is printed by different manufacturers; each of them has his own design, which in some degree differs from other editions. In particular, the country's main firm Fournier produces a whole range of them, labelling the editions simply with their catalogue numbers (No.1, No.32, No.55, etc.). Some of them, such as the one shown on the left, differ from the standard design, and may be listed as non-standard variants. The large group of Spanish-suited cards, though, also includes several editions much more fancy than these ones, different samples of which were already produced since the early 19th century. A small selection of them is presented in page 3.

It maintains a more naive look than the Castilian one, although many details have been simplified. Its main features are: Coins: the pips are decorated with geometrical motifs. Cups: the cups are shaped as chalices, with an open upper half, which makes their inside partly visible. Swords: in all subjects their shape is long and straight. Batons: the cudgels are rougher, and especially the large one on the ace has thicker branches along its shaft, without a ribbon. Due to the naive design, the horses mounted by the cavaliers are small, disproportioned; all of them are rampant. The kings do not wear beards, although some of them wear a moustache; their shape broadens at the shoulders and at the bottom, while it is tapered in the central part, almost as an hourglass.	two samples of Catalan pattern: (above) Tití Brand by Fournier and (below) by Maestros Naiperos Españoles

different shape of Coins and Batons in Castilian (left) and Catalan patterns	In both Castilian and Catalan patterns, the 4 of Cups usually has its central blank space filled either with the manufacturer's logo or with a text in praise of the quality of the cards. In Castilian editions a text can also be found on the 4 of Coins, or on the 2 of Swords, or on both.

Castilian variety by Maestros Naiperos Españoles, called Azahar ("Iris"); note that the horse is rampant, as in a Catalan pattern	Besides the official patterns, a few editions dedicated to Spanish regions are known to exist, such as the Baraja Aragonesa (for Aragon), the Baraja Catalana (for Catalonia), the Baraja Gallega (for Galicia). Their design and details are inspired by the local history and culture, i.e. the Coins suit features heraldic crests of local families, or courts are identified with local rulers or famous historical personages. However, they are considered an expression of local folklore rather than official regional patterns; the local players never really use these varieties for playing, preferring a classic Baraja Española. Therefore, a proper classification should include them among the several Spanish-suited non-standard patterns.

Also the Baraja Canaria, from the Canary Islands, belongs to the same group of folkloristic decks. It is more famous than others because of a unique court card, the dog, replacing the cavalier, which remembers the island's origin. Before being colonized by the Spanish, no horse lived in the Canary Islands; instead, since ancient times these isles were inhabited by a large number of dogs (in Latin canis), whence the geographic name of the land, and the Baraja Canaria's peculiar court card.
In this pattern, the knave is replaced by a native woman, while the king is a native man; both of them are featured as primitives.

Baraja Canaria by Justo Perez, Spain,
with the interesting replacement of the horse with a dog

The suit signs too are almost non-standard, and recall the historic tradition of the Canary Islands: they are primitive tools, such as Vessels (for Cups), Knives (for Swords) and Sticks (for Batons), different from the traditional Spanish ones.

A hybrid Spanish variety called Poker Español is not a fancy pattern, despite its peculiar look.

Poker Español by Comas (Spain) Printed by most major manufacturers, the deck consists of fifty-two subjects, whose central illustrations are borrowed from the Baraja Española (Castilian pattern), with an additional 10 in each suit. The courts are the standard Spanish ones, but they are double-headed, and their traditional numerals, i.e. 10, 11 and 12, are omitted due to the extended run of the pip cards (in this deck the knave is the 11th card). All the subjects bear international indices in the corners, including "A" for the aces, while the cavaliers quite amazingly bear a "Q".
Two comodines, or jokers, are constantly included.

The main purpose of this deck is to play Poker (or other international games) without having to quit the Spanish suits and courts; but any traditional game too may be played using the Poker Español, by simply taking out the subjects in excess. In order to provide a full two-way deck, two of the suits have red indices, while the others have them in black. Curiously, in some editions, such as the one shown above, not Cups and Coins are the red ones (although they correspond to Diamonds and Hearts of the French-suited system), but Cups and Batons.

Justo Perez, a Canarian manufacturer, created a variant of this already curious deck labelled Poker Canaria (picture on the right), blending the islands' folklore features previously described with the French suits: Coins, Vessels, Knives and Sticks appear in the central part of the subject, while the matching Hearts, Diamonds, Spades and Clubs are used as indices. The result is strikingly unusual.
The female personages, which in the Baraja Canaria are knaves, in the Poker Canaria are used as queens, while the dogs are jacks (i.e. the two ranks are reversed).

Poker Canaria by Justo Perez (Spain),
curious blend of Canarian and French suits

go to

page 1
homeland patterns - I page 3
early fancy editions page 4
Latin American patterns page 5
the Cadíz pattern

GLOSSARY

actual translation

NAIPES PLAYING CARDS

BARAJA DECK

PALOS poles SUITS

OROS gold COINS

COPAS CUPS

ESPADAS SWORDS

BASTOS BATONS

DIAMANTES DIAMONDS

CORAZONES HEARTS

TRÉBOL clover CLUBS

PICOS spikes SPADES

AS ACE

SOTA KNAVE (Spanish-suited decks)

PAJE JACK (French-suited decks)

CABALLO horse HORSEMAN (CAVALIER)

REINA QUEEN

REY KING

OTHER GALLERIES

or back to

INTRODUCTION
AND HISTORY

MULTI-LANGUAGE
GLOSSARY
THE FOOL &
THE JOKER
INDEX
TABLE
REGIONAL
GAMES
PLAYING CARD
LINKS

NAIPES		PLAYING CARDS
BARAJA		DECK
PALOS	poles	SUITS
OROS	gold	COINS
COPAS		CUPS
ESPADAS		SWORDS
BASTOS		BATONS
DIAMANTES		DIAMONDS
CORAZONES		HEARTS
TRÉBOL	clover	CLUBS
PICOS	spikes	SPADES
AS		ACE
SOTA		KNAVE (Spanish-suited decks)
PAJE		JACK (French-suited decks)
CABALLO	horse	HORSEMAN (CAVALIER)
REINA		QUEEN
REY		KING