You have excellent examples of early USPC and related companies' decks. Each should stand out in your collection.
Racer back Bicycles come from a time when USPC sold Bikes with designs other than the Rider back. The L should put the deck about 1950. Racers were fairly common to find in stores back then.
The whiskey deck likely doesn't belong in the old Tally Ho box. It comes from a time when distillers gave away decks with special aces, jokers and backs. They are still out there, usually printed in red, blue, brown and green. Card collectors and whiskey/alcohol collectors love these. Decks usually come with a special box as well.
Standard USPC Tourist deck has hard-to-find back design.
The narrow Congress deck is likely early late 1920s-early 1930s. It is part of a series of "narrow named" Art Deco backs that are also collectible. You can find the title on the bottom of each card back. The rich colors, gilt edges and sophisticated printing made these cards stand out at bridge tables. The colors still are bold 80+ years later. Other manufacturers made their own lines of these colorful cards. CPCC -- Chicago Playing Card Collectors -- has catalogued these cards for reference. They are especially popular among singles collectors.
The wide Congress deck is even older, and it is an excellent specimen to show Congress back designs were always among the fanciest and most colorful, even before slimmer, bridge-sized cards became popular. Many of these backs also have names and are catalogued through CPCC.
Parker Brothers sold playing cards in the early half of the 20th century; however, I am not familiar if the company outsourced them to USPC or other companies. I've not been able to tell much from my sole -- and very worn -- Parker Brothers deck, other than people played hundreds of games with the deck.
Finally: Leave the boxes as is.
Enjoy. Happy to answer any questions!
Andrew
Chris Turner
52 + Joker and CPCC member.
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