‘El Cid’ by Simeon Durá, Valencia, Spain

‘El Cid’ playing Cards manufactured by Simeon Durá, Valencia, Spain, 1880-1940

Above: ‘El Cid’ Catalan pattern manufactured by Simeon Durá, Valencia, Spain, c.1880. Guillem de Castro address on 4 of coins. The reverse has an orange ‘weave’ pattern. Later editions of the ‘El Cid’ brand (shown below) adopted the Castilian pattern which had recently been introduced by Heracio Fournier.

Above: three more different editions of Simeon Durá's standard ‘El Cid’ Spanish suited playing cards. These packs were produced in a wide choice of editions, with different numbers of cards and from luxury to basic quality. The example in the bottom row is a special version for the game of Bézique. The designs are based on an earlier 'fantasy' edition designed by E. Pastor in c.1875.

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.