El Reloj card game by Imprenta Lecaros
“El Reloj” card game by Imprenta Lecaros, Lima, Peru, c.1920.
El Reloj (the clock) card game by Imprenta Lecaros, Lima, Peru
El Reloj card game printed by Imprenta Lecaros, Avenida Abancay 764, Lima, Peru, c.1920. The game is described as “a modern salon game”. The text on the back of the box states that the game was invented to commemorate man’s invention of the clock, and is dedicated by the game’s creator to all homes as an agreeable pastime. The instructions how to pay the game are missing, but the illustration gives an idea.
The front of the box and the back of the cards have a small registered trade mark featuring what looks like a monogram 'BL' - it is not known what this represents.
The One of Red suits and the box have the ‘Estanco de Fósforos y Naipes’ stamp from the Caja de Depósitos y Consignas (shown left), which would have preceded the Estanco de Naipes, which was established in 1924. Thus at this time card games as well as ordinary playing cards were subjected to some form of tax. No other examples of this tax stamp have been seen to date.
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.
Related Articles
Pirritx eta Porrotx
Happy Families card game from the Spanish Basque Country.
Question and Answer Games
A card game called “Impertinent Questions and Pertinent Answers” was launched in the early 1920s by ...
Gibson’s History of England
History without tears for young and old, 1920s.
Iroha Karuta for Hino City
Special version of Iroha Karuta, a traditional Japanese matching game, made for Hino City, Tokyo.
Iroha Karuta
Traditional Japanese matching game played mainly by children.
O-Shlemiel card game
O-Shlemiel card game with Yiddish words and phrases.
Archaic Spanish proof sheets
2 x uncoloured proof sheets of archaic Spanish-suited playing cards produced for “New Spain”, possib...
Lend Me Five Shillings
or “Her Majesty’s Privy Purse” - a merry round-the-table game published by D. Ogilvy.
Laughing Made Easy
a Victorian card game published by D. Ogilvy.
So-Lah – A Game of Music
An early 20th century domino-type musical card game by Goodall.
Word Making and Word Taking
How crossword and spelling games became popular.
The Search for New Games in the late 19th century
A few new games survived and are still around today; most came and went and are only witnessed in th...
Vogelspiel
Vogelspiel, a German card game known as the “cuckoo game” also known as “Gnau”.
Mario Testino playing cards
A selection of Mario Testino’s photographic work in various fields, notably fashion.
Cartes de Conversation
Question and answer game printed by Daveluy, Bruges. Each card contains a question (Q.) and an answe...
Hoyle v Foster: whose name should we remember?
Hoyle’s name is associated with the rules by which many games are played, particularly card games B...