Sicilian playing cards by Antonio Monasta
"Il Leon" Sicilian playing cards, 40-card pack based on Spanish designs, made in Sicily by Antonio Monasta, probably 17th century.
"Il Leon" Sicilian playing cards, 40-card pack based on Spanish designs, made in Sicily by Antonio Monasta, probably 17th century. When the Spaniards occupied Sicily, licenses were given to local card makers to manufacture cards, hence the inscription on the two of swords reads "Con licenza del Rey N.S." The colouring is predominantly orange, green and yellow and rather crudely applied as though with the finger tips. The back papers turn over the front edges of the cards, a feature found in Italian cards but not Spanish ones. This pattern was replaced by the modern Sicilian type.
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.
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