Jonny Quest Menko, Tazos Cards
Scans and text content © 2008 by Craig Fuqua
This is a Jonny Quest "Menko" card from Japan, measuring about 2-1/8 inches across.
The age is unknown, but it's probably from the late 1960s or early 1970s.
Menko cards are thick pieces of cardboard with images on one or both sides.
Children would throw their card next to an opponent's card to try to flip it with the air current.
The game reportedly dates back hundreds of years.
For more information, see Wikipedia's article on Menko.
These are some "tazos" from Peru. Like pogs, each is about 1.5 inches in diameter
and were probably stuck inside the caps on milk or juice bottles as collectible premiums.
The source of the images is unknown, so they may have been original drawings for the tazos.
Notice Dr. Quest is called "Prof.," Bandit is "Fito" (perhaps the Peruvian
version of Fido) and "Race" Bannon is called by his first name, Roger.
The trading cards below are from Argentina, where they may have been called "figuritas."
They're the same size as the tazos above and look like they're made of the same cardstock,
so I'm guessing their source is the same. Hadji is called, "Haji," which was the spelling
in a lot of the licensing material given out by Hanna-Barbera, while Bandit is "Bandido."
Again, "Race" is called "Roger."
The seller said they were made in
1969 and that the artist was Josè Clemens.
