I wanted to share with the perusers of this website a sampling of decks that celebrate and commemorate certain well-known New York City landmarks. These are not the later common decks from the mid-20th century that were made to be sold at tourist shops around the city nor are they the known souvenir decks that are currently listed in the Dawson/Hochman encyclopedia which, of course, do not pertain to any one particular landmark despite the Statue of Liberty appearing on the backs of three of these. The decks in question have standard faces but beautiful artwork as their back designs which, together with their dates of issue, is what makes them desirable, especially to those collectors who happen to reside in the city.

The first, and earliest, as well as the only wide example that I have, is a deck of Triton No. 42 Extra cards (Hochman NY51a) made by NYCC which features a wonderful depiction of the newly completed Flatiron Building (1st photo) which was originally called the Fuller Building. The building opened on October 1, 1902 and, if I am interpreting the indistinct date from my partial tax stamp, this deck was issued the very next year. It is interesting to see the detailed background of the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway as it was at that time. This back design is quite rare as I have only ever seen two of these decks, one in my own collection and the other was part of the late Joe Friedman's collection.

Continuing in chronological order, we have a bridge size deck that was issued shortly after completion of the Chrysler Building which opened on May 27, 1930 and was sold at the Observation Tower. This back design shows an image of the iconic building in either green or yellow with silver highlights set against what appear to me to be lightning-like "marble" panels (2nd photo - front & back of OB shown) all combining to create a memorable impression in the mind of the collector. These are Remembrance playing cards issued by Brown & Bigelow of St. Paul, MN and are listed as Hochman MSN14.

The next two decks were issued shortly after the Empire State Building officially opened on May 1, 1931.
The first example was literally issued shortly after, as evidenced by the "P1987" code appearing on the unique Ace of Spades which represents the year 1931. There is no manufacturer's identification appearing either on the original box or any of the 53 cards although it may have been made by USPC. The back design is an absolutely striking Art Deco image of the Empire State Building (3rd photo) which came in both blue and red. This deck was available in single deck side slip cases similar to those housing many of the narrow Congress decks of the 1920's as well as a double deck vertical slip case. The distinctly non-standard Ace of Spades and joker from this deck are shown in the 4th photo.
The second Empire State Building deck was issued either in late 1932 or early 1933 as it contains a Contract Bridge score card dated November 1, 1932. Despite this later date, the original tuck box has a small 10-cent tax stamp affixed with a W.P.L. precancel indicating that is was made by Western P&L Co. of Racine, WI. This back design features another glorious image of the building against a black backdrop of rocks and rays (5th photo).

Today, I am presenting three decks of unknown manufacture which, obviously, poses the question "Who issued these decks and why were the manufacturer's names omitted on the Aces of Spades and elsewhere? Unfortunately, a possible answer to this question might be found on the original boxes, or wrappers, that once housed these decks but each of the three decks described below lacks this important component.

The first deck is the earliest, circa 1855 and, by all accounts, would appear to have been made by either Huestis & Levy or their Union Card Manufactory as the Ace of Spades (1st photo) is identical to both Hochman NY19 and Hochman NY20 as it has the same Grand Street address at the base of the card but the central ribbon is blank. The single-headed courts are the same designs which are unique to this maker and the back design is a commonly found plaid pattern.

The second deck, circa 1890, has the same Ace of Spades (2nd photo) as the one shown for the Hochman L82 listing but a different joker, in this case, the well-known image of a black man sitting on a bale of hay strumming a banjo which is the same as the one shown for the Hochman L53 Steamboats listing but without either maker or brand identification. It has gold edges and a commonly seen green pattern back. Was this deck made by The American Playing Card Co. of Kalamazoo, MI or the Columbia Playing Card Co. of NY or someone else?

The third deck, circa 1900 (maybe earlier?), would appear to be some kind of hybrid as it has an Ace of Spades (3rd photo) that has the same central design as the ones shown for the Hochman PU2 and PU4 listings but without any maker's or city identification, therefore, one might think that this was made by Perfection PCC. The only problem with this assumption is that the back design is a well-known Sphinx-like design found in a couple of NYCC brands, one of which dates back to some 25 years earlier as it comes with the Hochman NY47 Ace of Spades. The courts are not in the NYCC style, though, so there are enough contradictions so that I cannot even guess as to who actually made this deck.

Ordinarily, one might think that the manufacturer's names were deliberately omitted because these were cheating decks with marked backs but, if they were, the designs are too clever for me to spot where the suit and rank delineations are located. Once, again, we seem to be presented with mystery decks that, although interesting by themselves, only serve to raise yet more questions in the mind of the collector.

I do not know if what follows qualifies as an original observation but, not remembering having seen it elsewhere lately, I thought I would post it here. Have you ever noticed that some brand numbers represent actual historic years? Here are 3 examples for your consideration.

The first example pertains to the USPC Texan # 45 brand which is referenced as US13 through US13c on page 94 in the Dawson/Hochman encyclopedia. Why was this number assigned to this brand? The answer is that Texas was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29, 1845, therefore, the number 45 represents that significant year in it's history and, accordingly, you will notice that the brand number actually appears on the Ace of Spades shown below (1st photo) as No. '45 with the apostrophe before the number.

The second example pertains to The National Card Co.'s El Dorado # 49 brand which is referenced as NU17 on page 114 in the encyclopedia. Why was this number assigned to this brand? The answer is that "El Dorado" referred to a supposed city of gold that the Spanish explorers in the 16th century thought existed somewhere in South America and the year 1849 represented the peak year of the California Gold Rush, hence, the term "forty-niners" (No, not the NFL team). As an aside, there is also an El Dorado County in California which also played a part in the Gold Rush. On the beautiful wrapper shown below (2nd photo) we see the brand number as No. '49, again, with the apostrophe before the number and a wonderful display of U.S. gold coins in 3 denominations including the newly minted $20 gold piece or double eagle.

The third example pertains to The American Playing Card Co.'s Columbian # 92 brand which is referenced as L71 on page 41 in the encyclopedia.  Why was this number assigned to this brand? The answer is that the year 1892 represented the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492 and that dedication ceremonies for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago were held on October 21, 1892 although the fair did not open to the public until May of the following year. On the front of the original box shown below (3rd photo) we see the brand number as No. '92 with the apostrophe before the number around a central image of Columbus.

There may well be other decks with brand numbers that represent actual years and if I, or another collector, can locate them, they can be added to this post.

I wanted to bring to the attention of the users of this website a design comparison which raises a couple of questions that, perhaps, someone may be able to answer. The back design in question is shown below in the first two photos.
The first design (1st photo), which must be the original, appears on the back of a "standard" Goodall deck dated circa 1855 commemorating the Crimean War which lasted from October 1853 to February 1856. It shows a French sailor on the left with his country's flag, arm in arm with a British sailor on the right, who holds his country's flag. The phrase in the ribbon at the base of the card reads "Union is Strength" and the whole image represents the cooperation between the two countries as they fought together and ultimately helped the alliance to win the war against the Russian Empire. There is an arrangement of leaves and acorns at the top of the card with a central crescent and there are ships in the background. The first question that comes to mind is who designed this card back for Goodall?
The second design (2nd photo), which appears to be a redesigned copy of the original, appears on the back of a standard Samuel Hart deck dated circa 1862 commemorating the Civil War which lasted from April 1861 to April 1865. Here, we see a Zouave on the left, arm in arm with a Union sailor on the right, each of whom is holding a Union flag. The phrase in the ribbon at the base of the card reads "Our Union Forever" with a central shield of stars and stripes. An arc of 13 stars replaces the design which appeared at the top on the Goodall deck. A different arrangement of ships appears in the background but both back designs maintain the cannon and cannonballs at the feet of the two figures. This same image also appears on advertising for Samuel Hart & Co.'s Union Playing Cards as well as on a wrapper from their "Club House" playing cards. The second question that comes to mind is how did Samuel Hart acquire the original design and who altered it so that it would be relevant for his patriotic purposes during the Civil War? What connection, if any, existed between Goodall and Hart?
The third photo shows a comparison of the two Aces of Spades. The Goodall ace on the left is the "Old Frizzle" ace which was used until 1862. The Hart ace on the right is referenced in the Dawson/Hochman encyclopedia as NY29 and Hart was only at the 560 Broadway address in New York City from 1860-1863. This particular back design is referenced under this listing but is not shown there.
The fourth photo shows a comparison of the two Kings of Hearts. Note that the tip of the sword is unusually visible to the right of the Hart KH next to the pip.
The Goodall deck is a bit larger, measuring 2 1/2" x 3 11/16" and is rather thick, standing at almost 1" in height.
The Hart deck measures 2 9/16" x 3 9/16" and stands at 13/16" in height.

In reading this posting, one might get the impression that a wedding had occurred because I intend to present "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" as it pertains to an unusual and very attractive deck that was issued by The Plant System circa 1900. The Plant System was named after it's owner, Henry B. Plant, and consisted of railroads, steamships and hotels that were acquired beginning in 1879 and continuing until his death in 1899. All 8 of his hotels were located in Florida and helped to develop the tourism industry in that state.

Now to the playing cards. These decks have a lot going for them with special advertising on all of the Aces, scenes of the Plant hotels on the 2's and 4's, and 3 different special advertising backs which are reversible. The two earliest decks have back designs that are available in both red/white and blue/white whereas the third, and latest, deck also comes in brown/yellow.

Now to the application of the well known wedding phrase as it applies to these decks.
Something old - given that we are speaking about decks that are nearly 125 years old, I think this part speaks for itself.
Something new - I am taking a bit of a liberty here because the back design I am focusing on could be considered a "new" discovery because it is not currently shown in the latest edition of The Great Book of Railroad Playing Cards by Phil Bollhagen and, therefore, does not have one of his reference numbers assigned to it yet. The counterpoint to this deck being "new" is that this particular back design is already shown next to the AA3 listing in the Advertising chapter from the Dawson/Hochman Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards on page 189. Four other cards from this deck are shown on page 179 as examples of the Type 2 category of advertising playing cards. It is this deck that is the primary focus of this post.
Something borrowed - In preparing this posting, I am borrowing information currently contained in both reference books and other websites and combining this with my own observations and indistinct photographs as they relate to decks in my collection.
Something blue - a bit of a dodge here but, as the reader can see, both back designs pictured below are blue.

The first photo below shows the 54th card from this deck which is a Title Card that is often missing from these decks.
The second photo below shows two of the three back designs in question with the one on the left showing the flags on either side of the Plant logo being from the earlier deck which is not listed in Bollhagen. I refer to this deck as being earlier because there are only 4 scenes shown as they are repeated on the 2's and 4's of each suit. The spades show an interior scene of "The Swimming Pool of the Casino at Tampa Bay Hotel", the hearts show an external view of the "Tampa Bay Hotel, Owned and operated by the PLANT SYSTEM", the diamonds show an external view of the "Hotel Belleview Belleair, Florida" and the clubs show an interior scene of the "Theatrical Auditorium, The Casino, Tampa Bay Hotel".
It is most interesting to note the elegance of the styles of dress of the guests who could afford to travel and vacation there as well as the interior architecture of The Casino at Tampa Bay Hotel. This grand structure which opened in 1891, but ceased being a hotel in 1932, still stands today and is the home of the Henry B. Plant museum. The Hotel Belleview opened in 1896 and is the only other original Plant hotel building still in existence today. According to their website, it is now known as The Belleview Inn and "has been painstakingly restored over the past few years into the Florida Gulf luxury inn you see today."
Now back to a discussion of the decks. The later deck on the right actually has 8 scenes in total as each 2 and 4 now has a completely different phototone image. The added views are an exterior scene of the 'Seminole Hotel, Winter Park" on the 4 of spades (opened in January 1886, purchased by Plant in 1891, burned down in September 1902), an exterior scene of the "Fort Myers Hotel, Fort Myers, Fla." on the 2 of hearts (purchased by Plant in 1898), an exterior scene of the "Hotel Kissimmee, Kissimmee, Florida, USA" on the 2 of diamonds (purchased by Plant in 1890) and an exterior view of "Ocala House, Ocala, Florida" on the 4 of clubs (purchased by Plant in 1895). This deck has a reference number of PLS-2 in Bollhagen and is considered to be rarity V5 (very difficult to locate) but I believe the date to be nearly a decade earlier than the circa 1910 shown there.
The third photograph shows a comparison of the 2 jokers, again, with the earlier deck appearing on the left. You may be able to notice some writing appearing on the joker on the left. This was done by one of this deck's previous owners, a Mrs. E.C. Windisch of Ocala, Fla who was kind enough to include the date of 1900 which also helps to date this deck and give it a certain provenance as well. It is entirely possible that she was even the original owner of this deck. The fourth photograph shows a comparison of the 2 Aces of Spades and the last photograph shows a comparison of the 2 Aces of Clubs. The Ace of Clubs on the left shows one of the Plant System's earlier logos at it's base which appears as a reversible back assigned the reference number of PLS-1 in Bollhagen (not pictured in this article) and is considered to be rarity V6 (rare) with a circa 1900 date which I believe to be accurate. Contrary to what some may think, the animals depicted on either side of the Plant logo are, on the left, a bear in a warm coat with his right leg resting on a valise and, on the right, a well dressed alligator with a fan in his left hand. They are talking to each other on the telephone and one might surmise that the bear is considering visiting Florida for his winter hibernation/vacation. I consider this a delightful example of humorous and imaginative turn-of-the-century advertising.

Upon further review, it would appear that some kind of technological glitch occurred while I was posting this topic whereby one of my intended images was replaced by a duplicate image for reasons unknown to me. Here is, hopefully, the intended image of the original box. Take two.

I wanted to show a couple of different advertising decks for the Key Route which was a ferry service from Oakland to San Francisco that began in 1903.
The first deck was produced by USPC a year or two after this beginning and it was issued using their Treasury No. 89 brand. It featured the Hochman US18e Ace of Spades (shown on page 97 in the encyclopedia), plain edges, a unique joker with the fine print "US" indices showing the "S.F. Ferry Building" and a special back design showing what may have been their first ferry boat named the "Yerba Buena" (please see the first two photos below). The third photo shows the special advertising slipcase that housed this deck.
The second deck was produced by NYCC several years later after the company had apparently grown and it was issued using their Squeezers No. 35 brand. I have shown the Ace of Spades (please see the fourth photo), which is not shown in Hochman, although it must be one of the variations described under the NY49 listing and the "standard" joker which is usually associated with their Mascotte No. 69 brand (Hochman NY56). This deck also came with plain edges but features a completely redesigned back (please see the fifth photo) that now shows their enlarged fleet of five ferry boats. They are the San Francisco (featured in the center), the Yerba Buena, the Claremont, the Fernwood and the San Jose. Unfortunately, I do not have the original box for this deck and so am unable to either show or describe it to the viewers of this website.
These decks make a nice complement to any steamship advertising section of one's playing card collection.

In an effort to keep this information as updated as possible, I am resurrecting this post in order to attach a new picture, courtesy of one of the consignments from the 52 Plus Joker online Club Auction being held today, of one of the previously missing boxes which will properly attribute one of the two mystery phrases to it's correct picture. We now know to which card back each of the phrases belongs and only need one more picture of an original box in order to complete this online set of the six baseball poses as a proper reference.

I thought I would share what I believe to be some new information concerning the Spanish playing card decks listed as SX12 and SX14 in the Exposition and World's Fair souvenir chapter in the Hochman/Dawson encyclopedia. The year shown for each listing states that they date from 1893, which was the year of the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, but I do not believe this to be the case based upon notes from the April 15, 1897 meeting of the Price Committee of USPC whose members consisted of John Omwake, Stanley A. Cohen and R.H. McCutcheon. In this meeting, two resolutions were put into effect concerning the introduction of two new brands of Spanish playing cards as follows:

Resolution # 69, Cincinnati, April 15, 1897
Resolved, that Branch 1 be authorized to engrave plates and make a new brand of Spanish cards called No. 71, Los Leones, same to be listed in Class "C."

Resolution # 70, Cincinnati, April 15, 1897
Resolved, that Branch 1 be authorized to engrave faces and backs for a new brand of Spanish cards, for Colombia and other South American countries, same to be called No. 81, Colombiano, and listed in Class "C."

This would seem to be all of the proof needed to certify the origins of these two brands of Spanish playing cards. Apparently, the creation of new brands of playing cards takes some time before they can be offered for sale, thus, it is not surprising to see that both of these brands are not listed in the USPC price list for the season beginning on July 1, 1897 but they do appear in the price list for the following season beginning on January 1, 1898 in the Class C section at $42 per gross which is the same for all of the other plain edge brands in this class with the exception of Capitol # 188, Skat # 2 and Gaigel # 3 which were cheaper.

The description for the Colombiano # 81 (Spanish Cards) from the January 1, 1898 Wholesale Price List reads as follows:
"Specially engraved faces, after the style used in Colombia and adjacent countries; genuine parchment stock; possesses all the finest Spanish qualities; permanent colors; made in three sizes - 2 7/16 x 3 11/16, 2 3/8 x 3 5/8 and 2 1/4 x 3 1/2; hard surface finish; full packs, 48 cards."
The middle size is referred to as Barcelona size.

Pictured below are the front and back of the original box for SX12, the back design from the deck in my collection which took me many years to find, and the two of Earthen Bowls which is most interesting because it provides the name of the designer of this deck, Eduardo Espinosa Guzman, who appears to have been a Colombian printer although I would recommend that those interested readers with superior research skills to mine try to unearth some more information about him, perhaps, even enough to write a separate article. The back design is known as "Tangle" and was available in Black, Blue and Red.

The top and bottom sides of the OB read as follows:
 "Premiado en Cuantas" on top followed by "Exposiciones se ha Presentado" on the bottom which, when combined into one sentence, roughly translates into "Awarded in many Expositions where it has been Presented."
One of the side panels reads "Superiores a los Mejores Naipes Espanoles" which translates into "Superior to the Best Spanish Playing Cards." The remaining side panel simply reads USPC in English. Although the back of the box reads "La Gran Exposicion Universal, Chicago", I believe that this refers to the fact that USPC was awarded medals at the 1893 World's Fair for their products at that time and not for this particular deck which did not exist then.

Given all of the above new information, it may be the case that both the SX12 and SX14 designations should be changed to new "US" designations now that neither of them is shown to be directly connected to the Columbian Exposition. Of course, this may create confusion where none currently exists but it would be a treatment similar to the former SR13 designation being given the new S84 designation once it was proven that that deck was not a souvenir made for the Great Northern Railway but was, instead, made as a souvenir of The Great Northwest.

This posting is an attempt at clarifying some of the numbers that often appear on various Aces of Spades among the many brands issued by NYCC. I found this information in a couple of mint decks that still contained the accompanying slips of paper inserted into their respective boxes. This represented one of the ways in which NYCC tried to improve their customer service and guarantee satisfaction.
The first two photographs show the front and back of one of these slips that indicate which sorter at the factory assembled the deck and placed it in it's OB. You will note the numbers "9" on the front and the stamped number "84" on the back. This slip was inserted into a NYCC deck with their celebrated Angel back and a tax stamp dated 1899 so this was the practice at around that time.
The third photograph shows a slip of paper that was inserted into a deck of Triton brand playing cards. Although the tax stamp for this deck is intact, the red cancellation is indistinct and so I cannot identify the date which would tell us when NYCC instituted this new practice of identifying which sorter handled any given deck.
The fourth picture shows the Ace of Spades where we can see the stamped numbers "5 8 4" in the lower right hand corner representing the new way of identifying which sorter handled this deck. Unfortunately, I am unable to determine the significance, if any, of the printed number "713" at the base of this card.
The fifth picture shows the wonderful back design for this deck entitled "Flower Dance" which shows a performer adorned in what appears to be colorful Japanese attire compete with handfuls, and a hat full, of flowers. If anyone can determine when this design was issued then we can determine the circa date when NYCC changed their method of identifying which sorter handled which deck and what measures would have been called for when the incorrect deck was returned to them for replacement.

Here are some pictures of the front of the original box and several cards from this political game. Once again, I apologize for the indistinct quality of these pictures but, hopefully, something is better than nothing. Unfortunately, my original box is in dark red which is hard to photograph and, of course, there has to be a paper pull disturbing the central image of the hand of cards. The next picture is of the card back which is an interesting design consisting of money bags and scrollwork with what looks like the inventor's initials (G.R.C.?) in the center oval. The deck consists of 52 cards, 45 of which are numbered sequentially in the order in which each state joined the union (Delaware # 1 - Utah # 45). The remaining 7 cards are photographed below and they are Flag, President, 2 Labor cards and 3 Trust cards. Unfortunately, my example lacks the instructions but they are probably similar to other political card games that were issued during that era (1896-1904). I look forward to your upcoming article.

Here is the second set of 3 photos of playing card wrapper non-tax stamps from some more obscure manufacturers although there is a 10-Cent tax stamp shown accompanying two of the company stamps for decks that were issued during the 1920's.
The first photo shows a stamp from the Kalamazoo PCC which appears on the wrapper from a deck of Smart Set # 400 Picture Series featuring the frequently encountered named back Sweethearts but this early example has no border.
The second photo shows a stamp from the Pyramid PCC which is partially covered by an RF19 10-Cent tax stamp which would date this deck of Home Run cards (Hochman PY4) to about 1924.
The third photo shows a stamp from the Independent Card Corporation which has a slightly later variation of the 10-Cent tax stamp in the vicinity and appears on the wrapper from a deck (Hochman MSW89) which came in one of their well-known metal cases issued circa 1926.