Juan Roura - La Hispano Americana - Naipes Finos de Una Hoja

8/11/2026

Juan Roura - La Hispano Americana - Naipes Finos de Una Hoja

INTRODUCTION & IDENTIFICATION DETAILS

In this entry, we examine a Catalan pattern deck produced by Barcelona-based firm Juan Roura. An earlier post covered a brief historical profile of this card maker, linked at the bottom of the page.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, Spanish card makers divided their catalogs into marcas (brands)—a term that may sound confusing to modern ears, as it did not refer to the company itself, but rather to what we would now call "product lines".

Following this framework, our deck falls under Juan Roura’s La Hispano Americana brand. At this point, we encounter a slight issue with the nomenclature, as there appears to be no consensus on the exact model name.

The online catalog of the Fournier Museum of Playing Cards lists several copies sharing these illustrations, dated between 1939 and 1956, under a variety of names. These designations often seem to stem from handwritten notes on the 5 of Swords—such as Tirol, Barcelona 2, No. 5, or No. 40—alongside others linked to their wrappers, like La Yegua or No. 3. The deck presented here corresponds to a variant of these last two, combining both inscriptions on its partially preserved paper wrapper.

Given this disparity, I have chosen to title this review using the only graphic element that remains consistent across all recorded copies: the legend “NAIPES FINOS DE UNA HOJA” stamped on the 4 of Cups.

ICONOGRAPHY & DESIGN

As for the artwork, this deck represents a classic Catalan pattern that adheres strictly to all standard design and color palette conventions. It is worth noting, however, that subtle chromatic and detail variations exist, especially between export packs and those destined for the domestic market.

The printed catalog of the Fournier Museum lists a late 19th-century copy under the La Hispano Americana brand with comparable, yet not identical, illustrations. A consolidation of these designs into their "final form" is observed around 1939.

Late 19th-century copy - Fournier Museum Catalog (1982)

PRINTING & FINISH

Various shades are achieved through overlapping layers of solid color, with a subtle ink overlap visible in certain areas that reveals the pass of the different printing plates.

This procedure managed to broaden the color range without reaching the full systematization of the CMYK process, nor did it require mixing a specific ink for every single tone as with spot color printing. This latter technique, which remains in use today for specific applications like banknote printing, would be the closest equivalent to what we see in the pack.

This approach could be executed either through planographic printing (chromolithography) or via an offset process without halftone screening, which would account for the absence of the printing "rosettes" typical of CMYK. Both possibilities are equally valid for the manufacturing period of our deck.

The cards feature a matte finish on an off-white cardstock, close to a bone hue, reminiscent of newsprint or newsstand magazine paper. This raises the question of whether this was the original tone of the cards or a patina due to aging, the former being more likely given the uniformity of the surface and the excellent state of preservation of the cards. This is particularly striking, as the Roura No. 21 we analyzed previously presented a more modern look, with a smoother feel and a cleaner white stock, despite both decks being contemporary.

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