Bibaraja
Amusing designs of boys as circus performers by Alberto Muñiz Sánchez.
Los Muchachos (also called the Cirque des Muchachos) was an international boys circus from Orense which toured Australia and the USA in the late 1970s. Represented here are boy performers, mainly with their arms outstretched, in a variety of circus roles – as lion tamers (Ks), acrobats with horses (Qs), cyclists (7s), musicians (5s), illusionists (3s), etc. Every card is different. The name of the designer, Alberto Muñiz Sánchez, is on the Ace of Clubs. The maker’s name and tax stamp appear on the 4 of Clubs. On the back of the extra card are rules in Spanish and English for a special card game.
Above: Bibaraja playing cards with designs by Alberto Muñiz Sánchez, made by Heraclio Fournier, S.A., Vitoria, Spain, 1977. 52 cards + 2 Jokers + 1 extra card in tuck box. Size: 63 x 88 mm. © Benposta – Spain
Reference
Fournier Museum Catalogue, Vol. 1, Spain 861.
By Roddy Somerville
Member since May 31, 2022
Roddy started collecting stamps on his 8th birthday. In 1977 he joined the newly formed playing-card department at Stanley Gibbons in London before setting up his own business in Edinburgh four years later. His collecting interests include playing cards, postcards, stamps (especially playing cards on stamps) and sugar wrappers. He is a Past President of the Scottish Philatelic Society, a former Chairman of the IPCS, a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards and Curator of the WCMPC’s collection of playing cards. He lives near Toulouse in France.
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