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Came Across Some Vintage Mint Condition Cards

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Came Across Some Vintage Mint Condition Cards
« on: April 08, 2014, 11:48:58 AM »
 

iNCw8YnNjwazSk

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Link to album: https://imgur.com/a/79Lmh

I posted these on Reddit yesterday and I was told that you guys here might be able to shed some light on these cards. I don't really know a whole lot about playing cards but I was hoping that you guys could tell me a little bit about them and their value. I could only find a tiny bit of information on the KEM ones through a ebay auction, they say they are from 1947.

The birds and city scenes seem are from Northbrook while the leaves and flowers are from KEM, the other two pairs I'm not really to sure about but I can assume that the pair with stars inside circles are KEM make as well. I know that printing techniques have changed over time which leads me to believe that the cards with the white borders are older than the ones without borders but I could be wrong. They're all in mint condition except for the blue/orange pastel-esque city scenes which have seen some play and are fraying at the edges.

Thanks for your help!

Edit: I added a couple decks that are still in there wrapper to the end of the album, they're from the same source which is the only reason I would think anything of them to be honest.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2014, 03:50:00 PM by WestKnight3 »
 

Re: Came Across Some Vintage Mint Condition Cards
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2014, 03:30:24 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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Link to album: https://imgur.com/a/79Lmh

I posted these on Reddit yesterday and I was told that you guys here might be able to shed some light on these cards. I don't really know a whole lot about playing cards but I was hoping that you guys could tell me a little bit about them and their value. I could only find a tiny bit of information on the KEM ones through a ebay auction, they say they are from 1947.

The birds and city scenes seem are from Northbrook while the leaves and flowers are from KEM, the other two pairs I'm not really to sure about but I can assume that the pair with stars inside circles are KEM make as well. I know that printing techniques have changed over time which leads me to believe that the cards with the white borders are older than the ones without borders but I could be wrong. They're all in mint condition except for the blue/orange pastel-esque city scenes which have seen some play and are fraying at the edges.

Thanks for your help!

Edit: I added a couple decks that are still in there wrapper to the end of the album, they're from the same source which is the only reason I would think anything of them to be honest.

There's a little I can tell you about these.

I was not familiar with the Northbrook Plastic Card Company until I read this.  The only thing I know about them is that they're out of business!  (Sorry, not helpful, I know.)

The two decks still wrapped appear to be of paper manufacture, and I recognize the joker design.  I could be mistaken but I think it might be an old Arrco design from back before they were a USPC subsidiary.  I do know that it was common around the time of my childhood (late 1970s to early 1980s) to find bridge decks, even gilded ones, being sold in a simple cellophane wrapper such as this - this gave the retailer options to either sell it cheaply as is or place a deck or paired set of decks into a special case suitable to furnish a home or give as a gift in order to get a higher price.

Now the Kem decks...  It's a frequent misconception (often accidental, sometimes intentional) among eBay sellers that their particular deck is from either 1935 or 1947.  The reason for this is that the Ace of Spades has a copyright of 1935 on it, while the card used for ordering replacements for broken/damaged cards states a copyright of 1947.  So seeing either of those two years mentioned should raise a red flag on the accuracy of the claim.

As it turns out, however, a little research turned up a tidbit of useful information.  Prior to ownership by the US Playing Card Company, Kem did something very similar to USPC - they printed a date code on the Ace of Spades in their decks.  The Kem code is MUCH simpler to figure out - the code is either three or four digits long, with the last two digits being the year of manufacture and the remaining digits being the month.  For example, someone is presently claiming their two-deck set on eBay was from 1947, but the date code of 571 indicates otherwise: May of 1971.  Another Kem set of two plastic canasta decks has an Ace of Spades listing the month of manufacture as being April of 1953 (453).

If you don't see the Ace of Spades code on a Kem deck, make no assumptions about the age!  I will say that the "vertical" cases, usually made of Bakelite were common in decks made from the origin in 1935 at least through the 1950s and possibly into the 1960s as well.  By some time in the 1970s, the cards were coming in a less-attractive plastic case that were low and flat, holding two decks laying flat rather than on one side.  By 2004, the company was taken over by USPC - the low, flat boxes remained the norm, but below the logo on the lid, where it used to say "Kem Plastic Playing Cards", it was changed to read "US Playing Card Co."  The variety of decks was drastically cut to only a handful of models where many dozens used to be made and some die-hard card enthusiasts feel that the formula for the card plastic has changed for the worse - Kem as a solo company called the material "cellulose acetate", but I'm not sure if USPC maintains the same composition and/or states such.  I can't say with certainty, but I think USPC might be maintaining the same Ace of Spades codes that the original company used.

It is also terribly uncommon to find a Kem deck being sold as a single deck in its own box rather than as part of a two-deck set.  I see them very rarely, though I confess I'm not exactly rushing to seek them out.  I can say, however, that the current Kem product line is solely made up of two-deck sets.  USPC is also manufacturing a Bicycle Prestige line of plastic decks - these are not made in the same way as the Kem decks, but are manufactured by USPC subsidiary Naipes Heraclio Fournier S.A. in Vitoria, Spain.  The original two red and blue decks were sold exclusively as single decks, while the newer, plainer-designed green and brown decks are sold in pairs and a variety of card and index sizes, much like the Kem line.
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Re: Came Across Some Vintage Mint Condition Cards
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2014, 12:36:49 PM »
 

iNCw8YnNjwazSk

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Wow, thank you very much for all the info!

I looked through all the decks for the ace of spades and found the dates. The Kem cards are all from 67/68, they are still quite old as far as I am concerned! None of the others have any print date on the card which is unfortunate but for now I will just assume the whole collection is of the same age within a couple years. The one that does get me is the pegasus ones. They say "Ace Playing Cards" along the bottom, is this the manufacturer? I can't turn up any information on them because of their unfortunate name (it's hard to turn of any info on a search engine). If you had a little bit of info on them than it would be great as well! (picture below)



To sum it up, it seems like I've got:

2x2 + 1 decks of Kem cards from 67/68
     - Some people still like them
     - Probably the best quality that I have

2x2 decks of Northbrook cards from ~70
     - Out of business
     - Were not very popular

2x1 decks of Arrco cards from ~70
     - Paper
     - Still wrapped but only in cellophane wrapper instead of "upgraded" case

2x1 decks of Ace cards from ~70
     - They don't have the bumpy texture that the Kem ones do, maybe means they are paper?
     - Are still pretty cool
« Last Edit: April 09, 2014, 01:09:56 PM by WestKnight3 »
 

Re: Came Across Some Vintage Mint Condition Cards
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2014, 03:24:40 AM »
 

CARTORAMA

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Hi,
Ace Playing Cards is a Japanese company from Tokyo. I have a number of decks by them in my records, they begin with 1962 and end in 1980, so that would fit to the date of your Kem decks.
Ace Playing Cards made such decks as Jajaco Car Playing Card (nice cars), Jajaco Gun Playing Card (revolvers and pistols), Cocktails, Ships, Heraldry Pack, Hiroshige and Ukiyoe Playing Cards. The very first ones were printed in the elaborate photogravure technique (also used in premium fashion or so magazines by that time), after that in offset lithography.
But of course they also produced standard playing cards with the Anglo-American - or international - pattern like your cards. So far I know, they did not produce any plastic cards.
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Re: Came Across Some Vintage Mint Condition Cards
« Reply #4 on: April 21, 2014, 08:11:32 PM »
 

Mike Ratledge

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Interesting decks, I had already seen that posting on "imgur" because a friend Joey H from "theflush.co.au" had shown me the link and asked what I knew.  I also thought that they looked too new to be 1947, and as pointed out by Don in the first response, that's a popular misconception because the card was reproduced forever with that date stamped on it and used well into the 70's at least.  They're still nice, basically pristine decks, Northbrook decks never were very popular as noted before as well.  I've never seen more than a very few, frankly.  The one in the top left (ducks) being the exception: apparently is was produced quite a bit and it comes up on eBay every once in a while, in fact I believe there is a pair of them listed right now.  Ace card decks typically aren't collectible - much, anyway, I suppose if you were specializing in Japanese/Nippon decks you might.  They just made far too many of them for them to ever be worthwhile, in my opinion.

The Kem decks are indeed very typical of that time period, and that 'single' deck - if you look very closely -  has thumb grooves on each side, it might possibly be one that came out of a pair that wasn't packaged the way we typically see them - just a guess.

One other thing: "Bakelite" being used for Kem cards is a common misconception, and even though they often are (always?) advertised as being Bakelite plastic only a very (very!) few of the extremely old decks actually could have been put into Bakelite plastic holders.  In fact, if you actually find one that way it's likely more towards the 1920/1930 timeframe than these.  My mother being an antique dealer could put the official word on it, but I can assure you - those are not Bakelite plastic.  If they were, the boxes themselves would be worth about $50 each if not more, not including the decks in them.  Bakelite is polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride (had to pop up Wikipedia for that one!), was a very early plastic - and was only made between 1909 and roughly 1950 and was actually the first commercially made plastic. It was developed by Belgian-born chemist Leo Baekeland in New York in 1907. The Bakelite company was sold to Union Carbide in 1939 and there are few examples the postdate that acquisition, although there are definitely some mostly made in Britain.

Bakelite itself is very collectible, and pieces of it command hundred of dollars unless they are very small and even then typically $30-$50.  It's a phenolic plastic, which means it's both very hard and brittle, which is why it chips so easily and not many examples have survived the ages.


« Last Edit: April 21, 2014, 08:12:35 PM by Mike Ratledge »
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