Cassino

Naipes ‘Cassino’ de Don Clemente

Naipes ‘Cassino’ de Don Clemente, Pasatiempos Gallo S.A., Querétaro, Mexico, c.1988

The Ace of Spades and one of the two Jokers gives the manufacturer's name and address as: Pasatiempos Gallo S.A., Apdo. postal 250, Querétaro, Mexico. The reverse features an advertisement for Polaroid copying.

Right: The Ace of Spades has a cockerel's head and the initials ‘CJ’ incorporated into the design, which refers to the original manufacturer's name, ‘Clemente Jacques’ and the ‘Gallo’ trademark which was acquired by Don Clemente in 1982.

Standard Anglo-American packs such as the example shown here were produced by Clemente Jacques y Cia since at the least the 1950s, often with pictorial back designs, and then by Pasatiempos Gallo S.A. since c.1975. Only slight design details have changed over the years on the Ace of Spades. The court card designs are loosely copied from those published by the U.S. Playing Card Co.

Above: Naipes ‘Cassino’ de Don Clemente, Pasatiempos Gallo S.A., Mexico, c.1988. Cassino (with double 's') is located in Italy but the joker design is copied from Catel & Farcy (Paris)►

References:

García Martín, Enrique: Clemente Jacques, in LA SOTA no.15, Asescoin, Madrid, September 1996

By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

View Articles

Curator 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.