Congress No.606

The United States Playing Card Company

Congress Playing Cards were first produced by the Russell & Morgan Company in 1881 as the finest and most expensive of their brands. Decks came with lavish backs and gold edges. From around 1900, colourful artistic back designs were named in small gold letters at the bottom of the card back. In 1927 the wide-sized cards were discontinued and narrower decks were produced for the games of Bridge and Whist which were growing in popularity.

Above: cards from wide-sized deck of Congress No.606 playing cards, manufactured by USPCC, with a named "At Sea" back design, c.1915. The 'Congress' Joker (top right) was one of the most common of the early USPCC Jokers and it was redesigned at various times (see example right, 1930s). The deck shown above was imported into Argentina by the agent Flo. Ries & Cia, Buenos Aires whose details are overprinted on the Ace of Hearts, along with the Argentinean importation tax stamp.

As the games of Bridge and Whist became more popular during the 1920s the earlier wide-sized decks were phased out in favour of narrower cards (see example left) and a large number of beautiful back designs continued to be published over the years.

'Congress' playing cards were distributed in the UK by L. G. Sloan, Ltd (London).

References:

Dawson, Tom & Judy: The Hochman Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards, U.S. Games Systems Inc., 2000

Hargrave, Catherine Perry: A History of Playing Cards and a Bibliography of Cards and Gaming, Dover Publications, New York, 1966