Nutrimientos Purina

Nutrimientos Purina by Miguel Galas (Brown & Bigelow), Mexico, c.1960

Nutrimientos Purina (Purina pet foods) advertising playing cards produced by Miguel Galas S.A. (Brown & Bigelow), Mexico, c.1960. . The Ace of Spades has the name of the manufacturer's branch in Mexico, Miguel Galas S.A., printed at the bottom. The reverse of the cards has an Aztec calendar motif in the centre of a red and white chequered area. This is also shown on the box.

Brown & Bigelow Co. of St Paul, Minnesota was a leading U.S. playing card producer from the late 1920s until the 1980s. This advertising deck was produced by a Mexican subsidiary, Miguel Galas S.A. who were paper and pulp producers. The deck is otherwise completely standard and uses Brown & Bigelow's most familiar Ace of Spades and Joker. The court cards are their later, re-drawn version, c.1960.

Above: Nutrimientos Purina playing cards by Miguel Galas S.A. (Brown & Bigelow), Mexico, c.1960. Plastic coated, 52 cards + 4 Jokers in matching tuck box.

By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

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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.