Note 1 — Royal Orders, 1632–33

In 1552 Felipe II ordered a royal monopoly on playing-cards to be established throughout his western dominions. All cards were to be stamped with the royal arms. The manufacture and sale of them was sold in 1578 to Hernando de Caseres, who paid a royalty of one real for each pack. The value of the privilege gradually increased as well as the price of cards paid by the public. (Bancroft’s History of Mexico, iii, pp. 663, 664.)

This monopoly was established in the Philippines in 1591, by Gomez Perez Dasmariñas; see Vol. VIII, pp. 169, 271; and IX, p. 62.