Tarocco Piedmontese, Buenos Aires c.1900
Tarocco Piedmontese by Fabrica de Naipes La Primitiva, Moreno 248, Buenos Aires c.1900
Piedmontese Tarot by Fábrica de Naipes La Primitiva, Moreno 248, Buenos Aires, c.1900.
Naipes La Primitiva are also known at Defensa 125 and Victoria 3179, Bs. As.
The cards shown here date from the early 1900s and have the black 'Mercury' tax stamp on the four of cups. The card names are given in Italian. The reverse has a black trellis pattern on blue background. The logo of a deer between two trees on the ace of coins is that of Sebastian Comas of Barcelona (Spain) whose standard cards La Primitiva was imitating. It is not known whether the logo was used with permission.
Similar Piedmontese tarot packs were also produced at later dates by Mario Colombo and Cappellano S.A.
By Simon Wintle
Member since February 01, 1996
Founder 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.
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