PART I: Victoria — Tango or Mariachi?

8/01/2026

PART I: Victoria — Tango or Mariachi?

I originally intended to cover this deck in my usual format, blending historical background, a quick description, and impressions on overall quality. But after uncovering new data, I had no choice but to turn this into a multi-part deep dive. This is the first installment, and unlike my usual standalone entries, these shouldn't be read independently; they're meant as a single continuous article broken up into separate parts for logistical reasons.

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Let's start at the beginning: identifying the deck itself. It's a facsimile from the Ediciones del Prado collection, titled "Victoria Playing Cards. Argentina, 20th Century (1915)". While this designation provides immediate hints about origin and dating, it should be taken with a grain of salt. After all, the devil is in the details.

The Fournier Museum catalog tells a brief, inspiring story: this deck was allegedly manufactured in Argentina in the early 20th century by former Fournier employees. I've come across this account on more than one occasion, which should come as no surprise; after all, one rarely has reason to second-guess an official publication from an institution of this caliber.

Still, one detail always stood out to me: the overwhelming majority of early 20th-century Argentine decks use the Catalan pattern, whereas ours features the Castilian pattern. This wasn't completely outside the realm of possibility, given that the makers were supposedly once employees of the company that defined the style. However, the Castilian pattern was far more prevalent in Mexico during that same era. These little inconsistencies led me to investigate further, driving me to get four issues of the ASESCOIN journal covering Latin-American playing cards to finally settle the matter.

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Let's now turn to a detailed chronological breakdown of the relevant data uncovered in these publications.

ASESCOIN — No. 15 (1996): This issue introduces a deck named "Victoria," manufactured in Mexico and registered on July 12, 1923, featuring a wrapper reading "Naipe Victoria No. 2." It's clearly based on a pre-1889 Fournier design, though rather curiously, the cards illustrated do not appear to match the deck examined here today.

ASESCOIN — No. 17 (1997), "Barajas Plagiadas a Heraclio Fournier" [Decks Plagiarized from Heraclio Fournier]: Here, the correct deck is finally shown. The article states that it's housed in the Fournier Museum, dated around 1915–1920, and officially cataloged as Argentine. However, the author warns that a closer investigation is required and hints at a probable Mexican origin. No grounds are given for this assertion, but the piece highlights that, unlike typical Fournier knockoffs, conscious design modifications were made to set it apart from the original model.

ASESCOIN — No. 25 (2001), "Las barajas de símbolos españoles en América" [Spanish-Suited Playing Cards in the Americas]: This issue brings no new evidence to light, essentially echoing earlier entries:

Argentina Section: Lists our pack while quoting verbatim the Fournier Museum’s official account to reiterate its Argentine origin.
Mexico Section: To my surprise, a "Victoria" deck surfaces here yet again, accompanied by images of the very same cards and wrapper published back in 1996 (No. 15).

Given these somewhat cryptic and convoluted findings, one might conclude that this is simply a case of homonymy—that two contemporary packs were produced at opposite ends of the Americas: one Argentine and one Mexican, both sharing the name Victoria. This has been a common designation on Spanish-suited playing cards from the late 19th century right up to the present day, likely chosen for its striking resemblance to "Vitoria," an ever-present inscription on decks produced by Fournier.

Attentive readers, however, will notice I mentioned reading four journal issues, yet we’ve only unpacked the first three. Much to my regret, we'll pause here and tackle the resolution in the next post; otherwise, this one would run far too long, and more importantly, we still need to introduce another pack—one that will finally unravel this mystery worthy of a film noir.

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Note:
Below are the links to the remaining sections of this review: