My Faro deck made by A. Ball & Bro., Chicago, IL.  The company founder was Annie Ball who was listed as a playing card maker in various old city directories and censuses between 1890 and 1910. They distributed all kinds of gambling equipment but are most known for their Faro equipment. One of the rare women, or perhaps the only one in that era, in the gambling supply business.  The cards courts match the Samuel Hart courts and I assume were made by them.

My personal collection includes an almost complete Faro setup by Ball: a brass dealing box, a wooden card press that also acts as a case for the dealing box, these Faro cards, and a Faro case keeper (looks like a big rosewood abacus with images of cards on it).

Fantastic! I was expecting a less precise answer. Would I have found this in the Hargrave book if I had it yet?

Some great options....should make this thread useful in the future.

Hi, I'm a new member but not a new collector. I've been collecting gambling related stuff for years. First it was vintage casino chips from the many underground casinos that were everywhere here in Chicago back in the 1930s and 40s. From there my collection grew to include anything related to the underground gambling in the area, including the many casino equipment distributors that made Chicago home. Crooked dice and other "gaffed" gambling equipment, Faro equipment including old gaffed dealing boxes, are all things I am into. The desire to have some vintage cards to display in my antique dealing boxes got me started on vintage cards.

My card collecting is mostly limited to old faro decks and "serious" American decks from 1965 or earlier. Also on the lookout for pre-1900 European decks, especially the simpler styles that look like they'd be at home in a smoke-filled room. I find the idea of designing decks intriguing, but I have no interest in collecting anyone else's custom decks. This is horribly hypocritical of me, I know. Sorry!

I've already learned a lot just by lurking here for a while, and hope to learn much more by actively participating.

Will Roya's boxes sound like what I'm looking for.  I have some old faro decks stored in a vintage card press. I think keeping them in the press causes ink to transfer from fronts to backs. Now that I'm starting to accumulate some "modern" decks with tuck boxes and tax stamps, I'd like a new storage option that works for everything. This sounds like a good start.

Some kind of flexible 3D sleeve that would fit over a tuck box would be perfect, but sounds like nobody offers one. Maybe I should get busy and make a batch!