Cadiz style by La Primitiva, Bs Aires c.1905.
Cadiz style playing cards manufactured by La Primitiva, Victoria 3179, Buenos Aires c.1905. The cards have the black 'Mercury' tax stamp on the four of cups.

La Primitiva, Victoria 3179, Buenos Aires c.1878-1920, manufacturers of paper and playing cards. Also at Moreno 248 and Defensa 125, Bs. As.
La Primitiva was registered as a paper mill in 1878. The cards shown below date from the early 1900s and have the black 'Mercury' tax stamp on the four of cups. The reverse has a red trellis pattern. The design of the cards is based on the Cádiz pattern made by Sebastian Comas (Barcelona) which continued to be imported into Argentina for many years. See later example here.


By Simon Wintle
Member since February 01, 1996
View ArticlesCurator and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.