This post will serve as both an introduction and a correction/revision to two of the current listings in the latest Bollhagen Railroad Playing Cards reference book.
The first photograph below shows both the back design and the Ace of Spades for what I believe to be a previously unknown, or at least unlisted, deck issued by De La Rue of England for the Canadian Pacific Railway which may also be the earliest. This back design shows a pair of crossed flags with the intertwined CPR logo below them on a borderless white background. Based upon the tiny "1" indices on the aces and, after checking with the wopc.co.uk website, it appears that this Ace of Spades was issued circa 1885-1890. Unfortunately, I do not have an original box for this deck to show here.
Now we come to a pair of corrections regarding the actual dates of issue for two of the Canadian Pacific Railway listings in Bollhagen (please see the second photograph of the two back designs in question). These are designated as CP-9 circa 1910 and CP-10 circa 1920 and both are assigned a rarity of V.5 which means "very difficult to locate." Based upon my own experience, I actually believe these to be much tougher to find and should merit a rarity of at least V.6 which means "rare."
The back design shown on the right of the second photograph with the same crossed flags and CPR logo but with a red border, represents the CP-9 listing and, based upon the third photograph of the Ace of Spades and joker from this deck, we can see that the actual issue date for this deck should be some 20 years earlier circa 1890. This is because these two cards are from the earliest version of the Treasury No. 89 brand by The Russell & Morgan Printing Company found in the Dawson/Hochman encyclopedia listed under US18-1 which we know to have been introduced in that same year. The fourth photograph shows the original box which houses this deck and it is the same kind of cloth slipcase in which other early brands were issued by RMP.
The reversible back design shown on the left of the second photograph with the same crossed flags but with the CPR logo now above them, represents the CP-10 listing and this deck was made using a later version of the Treasury No. 89 brand by USPC. The original box for this deck is shown in the fifth photograph and the joker is the standard design for this brand shown in the encyclopedia under the US-18-2 listing but with the earlier thin "US" indices in the corners. The tax stamp appears to have a cancellation date of 1902 and so, this issue date, too, should be approximately 20 years earlier than the 1920 date currently shown in the Bollhagen reference.
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