Not to diminish the shout outs from all the forum members, but without sounding melodramatic, I'm honored that I've helped Asher in his quest for playing card knowledge… I've been bidding big uncomfortable numbers on the bicycle salesmen samples the past month or so, but they just sky-rocketed far out of the realm of reality for me, at this time… I feel blessed to have picked this up… I have a special fondness for Bee & Tally Ho…
Hi JMRock
Really neat piece. NYCC did a series of these c1900-10 for a variety of their brands. We have one set with "Bee", "Hart's Crown", "Squeezers", "Steamboats" and "Triton" . Samples are one of the pieces of playing card ephemera that Judy and I love - and we've been fortunate to acquire quite a few over 30 or so years. From my perspective they are well worth paying 'out of the realm' if you can handle it because they are pretty scarce, slowly [or sky-rocketing] up in value and a wonderful part of the history of the earlier makers.
The Heart 2 was undoubtedly put in correctly - we have found that they normally have cards placed the other way so you can see what a pip, or court, is like. See scan below for an example of turned card from a USPC sample book.
Maybe we should set up a topic, or sub-topic, where queries, comments and information about some of the vintage and antique cards can be placed. Will sure help me find them for answering!
What do you readers think?