UnitedCardists.com - The forum for Cardistry, Magic, Custom Decks and All Things Playing Cards.

Mailman Monday, archive edition. Today we have a deck of Sonic Playing Cards from 1973. The Sonic brand was made by USPCC for Shop-Rite Supermarkets (which are still going strong). The back design seemed familiar. I was able to track it down in a 1923 Hoyle's Rules for Card Games book and saw that it was originally a Sportsman's back design called Net. I wonder if USPCC used the Net design in other places or just dusted it off for Shop-Rite. Let me know if you have any non-Sportsman's decks with this design.

I have an affinity for these late 1920s two deck card boxes, so I’m sharing all the ones I’ve been able to acquire. Must have been popular for a while since all the major card makers were producing these.

What form do they take Chuqii?
Slip case, Box with lid or oversized Tuck case?

They are side by side decks in a really wide tuck with internal divisions that separate the decks. The only one different is the 888 Bicycle Bridge which side loads the decks with a flap on each end.

Can't believe I haven't shared this here before, but on today's Ephemera Friday we will begin our journey through my c1907 Congress Salesman's Sample book. Book is 11" x 5.5" and has 6 card backs per page.

Thats a super cool piece.

It's really cool all laid out. Around 7 feet long. Had to use panoramic mode.

Part 2 of my c1907 Congress Sampler

Part 3 and final part of my Congress Sampler

Here's a quick hitter for the weekend - deck of Sands Las Vegas from Bee, c1987. Opened these last week for poker night, and they held up better than a 2009 new deck of Bicycle Rider Backs. Noticeably thinner, also. The Sands closed and was demolished in 1996.

Mailman is really backed up with all of the Christmas packages, so here is Mailman Monday, Tuesday edition. Today we have a festive collection of 1920s Andrew Dougherty Marguerite No. 130 playing card decks with various flower backs. In order, from left to right, Poinsettia, Goldenrod, Orchid, Thistle, Cherries, and Poppy

Let's follow-up yesterday's Tuesday Mailman Monday with an early edition of Ephemera Friday. Added this New York Consolidated Card Co ad and price list to my collection. No date on the piece, but I believe it is c1910 based upon the brands listed for sale. I am very curious as to what the Montana cards looked like. Have not heard of that one.

Update - Tried to track down NYCCC Montana cards, but this is all I've found so far. Maybe something to do over the holidays.

Found this one at a flea market, and I have never seen this brand or this back design before. Which is surprising, because this is a well-known manufacturer. Obviously not in Hochman, and I was unable to find any other decks like this on Worthpoint, I'm guessing this was a very short-lived brand from ARRCO. I am confused by the 10 cent tax stamp, because it appears to be the kind in use from 1924-1929, but I don't think ARRCO even existed back then. If you know anything about the Noglaire brand, please let me know.

Found a link with more about ARRCO: https://www.madeinchicagomuseum.com/sin ... g-card-co/

Arrow started in 1927, so maybe they had some surplus tax stamps laying around. Maybe the ARRCO name was trialed in the 1920s before replacing Arrow? Adding this to my research pile.


And here is a link if you want to see a bunch of early ARRCO Streamline decks: viewtopic.php?p=166503#p166503

It's Monday, so let's see what the mailman brought today. Here is a 1931 Aviator deck that still has an S.P.C.C. (Standard Playing Card Co.) tax stamp. USPCC had already taken over Standard by this time, but the Standard name was still being used on some of the Standard line decks. Also, turns out the Aviator back design was repurposed from the short-lived Pennant brand from USPCC.

Here are some links to my other Aviator posts: viewtopic.php?p=252899&hilit=aviator#p252899 and viewtopic.php?p=160400&hilit=aviator#p160400

Thank you Chuqii, I had not seen that tuck before (I love it)
It was no doubt the inspiration for Dan&Dave/Abraham Garcia Sanchez

That calls for a quick Aviator family pic
Update: Let’s add the Canadian cousin, c1960s

Update 2: some sealed 1980s Aviator Jumbo Index decks

Sticking with Aviator for today's Ephemera Friday, I found that Standard Playing Card Co. registered the name "Aviator" for playing cards in 1928 according to the US Patent Office Gazette. May explain why the Western version of the Aviator deck (top left in previous post) is so hard to find these days. They did not have long to make it.

Here's a new discovery for today's Mailman Monday. According to Hochman, Gibson Playing Card Co. was only known to have made one poker size deck, Challenge (MSN 46). Now we know of two. Introducing Triumph. While the Ace and joker do not mention Gibson, the style of the Ace and Joker, along with the court cards, clearly point to Gibson being the manufacturer. Also, I found a snippet on Google Books indicating that Gibson introduced a Triumph brand around 1931, the same date as on the not-shown in the pic tax stamp. The same snippet also mentions Challenge and Technique, both Gibson brands listed in Hochman. Anybody got a spare Retail Tobacconist from 1931 handy?

**Actually, make it three. World Wide Playing Card Museum has a wide size Technique deck, so it looks like all three decks mentioned in the snippet were available as poker size decks.

*** UPDATE, 1-14-2026. I found a USPCC deck using this same Ace of Spades in 1941, so likely after Gibson sold out to USPCC. The back design of the later USPCC was used for the wide Gibson Challenge deck, according to pics at the WWPCM. You can see the differences between the Gibson spade courts and the USPCC standard courts of the time.

A nice looking deck chuqii

Had to dig back into the Archives for today's Ephemera Friday, and I found some old playing cards advertisements for New York Consolidated Card Co. dating from 1891 and 1892. These first 3 ads are from late 1891, and I'll post the 1892 ads next week. It is always interesting to see the other items advertised on these pages from magazines of the time.

Sure it is one way but I still think their 1832 Knave is the best

Ephemera Friday! 1892 NYCCC playing card ads for Triton playing cards.

Poor Mailman was delayed by the Icepocalypse, so back to the archives for today's Mailman Monday.

Here we have a c1910 gilded, wide size Moon No. 1 deck from Andrew Dougherty with a back design that I feel like I've seen on another deck, too. Wonderful Joker and Ace of Spades.

[image to come - seems to be an issue with the uploading]

Have the Mailman send us some of that ice. It is about 11am here and we are well on our way to the predicted 46° (115°)

Adding pic of the Moon No. 1 deck referenced above.

Now that last week's Mailman Monday is posted above, here is this week's Mailman Monday. Two more decks to add to my 1933-1934 Chicago World's Fair collection. Here we have another ARRCO deck and a Western Playing Card Co. deck with 53 views of the fair and an impressive giant gorilla joker. My other Chicago World's Fair decks are here: viewtopic.php?p=266713&hilit=world%27s+fair#p266713

That is a very nice pattern on the Moon deck and I think the 1933 AoS is better than the Gorilla but it might not be worth £1,000. Is that American or English slang?

Today's Mailman Monday brings a little tip to help identify your vintage sealed Bicycle playing cards. Today we have a pair of 1950s Bicycle Rider Back playing cards. You can tell these are 1950s because this style of tuck box was introduced around 1950, and around 1960 USPCC changed it so that the name of the card back was in the same color as the spade pip. So that part is obvious, but, if you look on top of the deck, you can see that these decks are from the earliest 1950s, like 1950-1953. How do we know? Because the 808 is centered on top, and often partially covered by the tax stamp. Which, after a few years, or after they used up all the ones they printed first, someone decided to move the 808 out to the side so it wouldn't be covered by the tax stamp.

Here endeth the lesson, and below areth the decks.

Chuqii's Oscar Nominated Ephemera Friday

On Reddit, I came across an older post from someone looking to identify some playing cards used in the movie Sinners. Here are the playing cards he inquired about.
you can also see some of the cards in use in this video, around the 1:30 mark : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kwUeO3CxyA

In the comments, someone mentioned that the cards looked like some of mine on eBay, and they did look familiar, very familiar. Turns out in March of 2024 I sold three decks of cards to a guy in New Orleans with the same name as the prop master for Sinners, a red and blue set of Dougherty Climax with the crossed racquets and a Lord Baltimore deck with the blue back. Here's my ebay history screengrab:
And here is a pic of the Ace of Spades for the Climax deck:
Sinners was nominated for an Oscar for Production Design, so, from now on, you can refer to me as Chuqii, Oscar Nominee.

(Also, we will overlook the fact that two decks of c1920 Dougherty Climax playing cards with the logo of some kind of racquet club would be most unlikely to be found in Mississippi Delta in 1932)

I think this should be so