Catalan-style pack by Fulladosa
Fancy figures from Fulladosa of Barcelona based loosely on Catalan-style designs.
Harking back to an earlier design by Sarbat y Solé of Barcelona from 1844, this Fulladosa pack is much more refined. The knights and jacks still have feathered caps but the colours feel more unified and the outlines sharper. The most striking features are on the Ace of Coins: a bearded male face looking straight out, with a pair of sphinxes beneath. The resemblance with the Fulladosa pack (II-1-89) shown on page 89 of La Sota no. 43 is obvious. The present pack differs only in having indices in two corners and in the wording on the 4 of Cups (‘Marca’ instead of ‘Ma’). The court cards look relatively youthful, which is itself a noticeable feature of many Catalan pattern packs.
Catalan-style pack made by Morera Buxó, Barcelona, using the Fulladosa brand (marca Fulladosa), c1883–1886. 48 cards. Size: 58.5 x 93.5 mm. Purchased in Nice, France, April 2026.
Reference and Note
La Sota no. 43, October 2014.
Note: In 1883, the business came under the direction of Antonio Morera Buxó. He continued to use the Fulladosa name and, importantly for identifying surviving cards, continued to use the Fulladosa trademark.
By Roddy Somerville
France • Member since May 31, 2022
Roddy started collecting stamps on his 8th birthday. In 1977 he joined the newly formed playing-card department at Stanley Gibbons in London before setting up his own business in Edinburgh four years later. His collecting interests include playing cards, postcards, stamps (especially playing cards on stamps) and sugar wrappers. He is a Past President of the Scottish Philatelic Society, a former Chairman of the IPCS, a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards and Curator of the WCMPC’s collection of playing cards. He lives near Toulouse in France.
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