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Quinto Centenario del Descubrimiento de América

Published February 08, 2021 Updated March 30, 2022

Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of America by Heraclio Fournier, 1992.

1992 Latin America Spain Heraclio Fournier Commemorative Hispanoamericana

Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of America by Heraclio Fournier, 1992.

“The greatest thing after the creation of the world, excepting the incarnation and death of He who created it, is the discovery of the Indies; that is why they call them The New World”, says the great historian Francisco López de Gómara more

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Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of America by Heraclio Fournier, 1992 Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of America by Heraclio Fournier, 1992 Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of America by Heraclio Fournier, 1992 Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of America by Heraclio Fournier, 1992 Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of America by Heraclio Fournier, 1992

Above: Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of America by Heraclio Fournier, 1992. Double boxed set or 2 x (52 cards + 3 jokers + extra card).

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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

Member since January 30, 2009

Rex's main interest was in card games, because, he said, they were cheap and easy to get hold of in his early days of collecting. He is well known for his extensive knowledge of Pepys games and his book is on the bookshelves of many.

His other interest was non-standard playing cards. He also had collections of sheet music, music CDs, models of London buses, London Transport timetables and maps and other objects that intrigued him.

Rex had a chequered career at school. He was expelled twice, on one occasion for smoking! Despite this he trained as a radio engineer and worked for the BBC in the World Service.

Later he moved into sales and worked for a firm that made all kinds of packaging, a job he enjoyed until his retirement. He became an expert on boxes and would always investigate those that held his cards. He could always recognize a box made for Pepys, which were the same as those of Alf Cooke’s Universal Playing Card Company, who printed the card games. This interest changed into an ability to make and mend boxes, which he did with great dexterity. He loved this kind of handicraft work.

His dexterity of hand and eye soon led to his making card games of his own design. He spent hours and hours carefully cutting them out and colouring them by hand.

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