#978 HERACLIO-FOURNIER – BARAJA OLÍMPICA (1988)

The Olympic Games from 2020 in Tokyo have finally started. The opening ceremony was celebrated today, so I will comment this deck of cards made by Heraclio Fournier in Spain in 1988, when the games were celebrated in Seoul.

It is one of my favorite H-F models, as it has really well done illustrations of many olympic sports. There are 32 cards, although some cards represent several similar events. For example, the card for cycling counts for indoor and route cycling.

Some cards has short descriptions of the event(s) or categories, other have a listing of world records, both for men and women. Unfortunately, all drawings show men, it would have been great if half of the cards would show female athletes. Interestingly the box depicts a female gymnast, which does not appear in any of the cards. Probably they noticed the error and tried to correct it by choosing that cover.

The set includes a 3rd cover card with the instructions on the back. Heraclio-Fournier had another, much older, sports deck, but the drawings were made in a completely different style.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: BARAJA OLÍMPICA
• Year: 1988
• Company: Heraclio-Fournier (Spain)

#977 MAISTO – FERRARI COLLECTION (Around 1995)

This is a rather common gift set from the mid-90s made by Maisto that, at the time, was entering most Western markets with great force, and taking advantage of the relative weakness of more traditional brands, such as Matchbox or Majorette.

I am not a Maisto collector, but a MC Toy one, and I already have all these cars with the pre-maisto brand in their bases, but not all in red and/or mint condition. And, on top of that, it was a very cheap set, so I could let it go.

The models were great at the time, and were also priced much lower than the other brands.

The box has 5 windows and includes 5 Ferrari models: F40, 365 GTB, 308 GTB, Testarossa and 250 GTO. The box is way to big for its content, more if we consider the upper flap from where it could be hang from a display.

You can see other MC Toy Ferraris here. MC Toy models were unlicensed, were these early Maistos really Ferrari licensed products, or is the seal at the back of the box a fake?

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: FERRARI COLLECTION (FERRARI F40, 365 GTB, 308 GTB, Testarossa and 250 GTO)
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: Around 1995
• Company: Maisto (China)
• Size: Around 7 cm