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.
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