I picked up this Blue Bicycle Club Back deck in the summer for $4.75. Unfortunately it had no tuck box, but the cards were kept in great condition over their lifetime in storage. I like the way their luster and texture is revealed by the light reflecting on these old cards. These also have what I like to call the "sleepy eyed" court cards which are a favorite of mine. I hope to learn the skills to pin a better date on them, but currently I have it dated in my notebook as early 1900s. Let me know if you think differently.
That's a great-looking pack you have there!
I'll give you a few tips for discovering the age of your deck.
I looked at the close-up of your photo, specifically at the bottom of the Ace of Spades - the screen grab is below. That code seems like gibberish, and much of it is, but the letter of that code is a dating system used by USPC for the year the deck was made.
Here's a few links to look at to help with determining the age based on the letter:
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+date+uspc+playing+cards&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-aThe second one down is from Lee Asher, magician and fellow administrator of this forum! The first one is also worth a look, despite that it won't help with your present deck, but it contains great information for dating a deck of cards based on the tax stamp on the box - valuable knowledge for your next vintage deck, perhaps.
For further narrowing the year down, you can check on what period that back was being used by USPC under the Bicycle brand:
http://www.jimknapp.com/Cards/Bicycle.htmhttp://www.cypressfilms.com/Bicycle//Robinson/Robinson.htmlHappy hunting, and if you need more tips or advice, feel free to ask. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask because you were afraid we'd think you were dumb. We were all beginners once, so we sympathize.
