13: Some North American Cards
I deal with some of the US makers in more detail on other pages, but here is a brief introduction.
There are some fascinating court cards to be found in 19th century American packs. I give a selection below, but I deal with Andrew Dougherty (page 42) and the United States Playing Card Co. (page 43) in more detail.
The name Thomas Crehor (without an 'e') was used by at least two different makers after the fire of 1846 closed Crehore's factory. (For details, see the Dawsons' edition of Hochman's Encyclopedia.)
The pack below is probably by Dougherty. Certainly, some of the courts are like double-ended versions of the courts of AD1 (but not all).
The other three courts are on the next illustration, which also includes the somewhat odd courts used by Levy about the same time and later. (Sorry, the Levy pack is very grubby.)
I give a selection of the courts of Hochman AD1 below. An odd feature of these particular cards is that the back design is copied from one used by De La Rue in the 1840s and 50s.
I can't find any evidence of a connection between De La Rue and Dougherty, but their early cards are very similar. Do any of our American collectors know of any connection?
In addition I've got a similar pack in which the two black queens have their traditional postures; unfortunately, three courts are missing, so I don't know what the other two queens were like. But it shows the clear Crehor/Dougherty connection in that there are packs with the above courts and a Dougherty AS (see Paul Bostock's website Plainbacks, item I80).
The more I look at American and Canadian cards, the more complicated the picture gets. The complicated nature of the North American playing card scene is well documented in Tom & Judy Dawson's reworking of Hochman's Encyclopedia. Since I've seen more examples since completing my book, which contains a section on US cards, I need to revise and expand on what I presented there. An article by Paul Bostock and me has appeared in The Playing Card, Vol. 41, which sets the scene for the first half of the 19th century, but in the second half of that century more and more card-makers appear on the scene, and a lot of them were swallowed up by competitors. The biggest swallower was the United States Playing Card Co. This is often reflected in the use of the same court cards in packs with different company names. (See page 43)►
In addition there was a lot of copying of designs going on, so similarity may or may not indicate that the same firm was involved in the production of such similar courts. And on top of that, designs were often cannibalized into new ones. For example, in c.1863 Lawrence & Cohen produced a double-ended version of their courts with the heads of US8 and the clothing of USD4.1.
For comparison, here are an example of the USD4.1 clothing by Dougherty and the US8 single-figure courts by Lawrence & Cohen.
Yet another mix of USD4.1 with elements of US8 can be seen in a Samuel Hart pack of c.1858.
An interesting mix of De La Rue's D4.1 with crowns like those of Goodall's G3 was produced by Levy in the early 1870s.
Here is a selection of other designs, some of which lasted only a short period, before being taken over by USPCC and replaced by one of their standard designs that emerged in the early 20th century (in my book: US3, US3.1 (bridge width), US4, US5 (bridge width) and US7). (See further page 43)►
Perfection Playing Card Co was taken over by USPCC and their own courts were replaced by those of the National Card Co (US2).
Perfection, original courts, c.1875
The Standard PCCo also had its own courts similar to those of USPCC's US4, in two sizes, but shortly after their take-over Standard packs also had the ordinary USPCC courts.
Two versions of Standard's own courts with different frame sizes.There is another court design used by Standard in addition to the above, which was also used on Bay State packs.
Independent PCCo had its own version of the mixture of US1 and US4 that has the strange twisted head JD. Here are two examples below.
The American PCCo of c.1880 designed its own set of courts.
American PCCo, c.1880
A further selection of unusual court card designs from the US can be found on page 19►
An acquisition of a few years ago gives an intriguing glimpse of US cards imported into England. There are two packs by Samuel Hart/NYCCC with different courts and ASs in home (not import) tax wrappers showing that Mudie & Sons of London must have bought once-used club cards from the US and resold them as secondhand cards, as specifically indicated on the wrapper.
For much more information about North American cards and their makers, see Tom and Judy Dawson's site: https://shop.conjuringarts.org/store/pc/Hochman-Encyclopedia-c182.htm►
By Ken Lodge
Member since May 14, 2012
I'm Ken Lodge and have been collecting playing cards since I was about eighteen months old (1945). I am also a trained academic, so I can observe and analyze reasonably well. I've applied these analytical techniques over a long period of time to the study of playing cards and have managed to assemble a large amount of information about them, especially those of the standard English pattern. About Ken Lodge →
Trending Articles
Related Articles
Woodblock and Stencil King of Diamonds
A limited edition art print of the King of Diamonds 1984 woodblock joker.
Woodblock and Stencil Joker
A limited edition art print of the 1984 woodblock joker.
Woodblock and Stencil Jack of Hearts
A limited edition art print of the Jack of Hearts 1984 woodblock joker.
Woodblock and Stencil Jack of Clubs
A limited edition art print of the Jack of Clubs 1984 woodblock joker.
Star Trek II • The Wrath of Khan
This deck is a vibrant photographic tribute to "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," one of the most be...
Norfin® Trolls
Troll dolls with gaudy hairstyles in a multitude of different costumes.
Impressionist Art Cards
Details of 13 paintings by 8 different Impressionist artists on elongated cards.
Safety playing cards
Safety playing cards designed to reinforce the “Think and Be Safe” concept.
Politicards 2016 & Politikids 2016
Politicards™ 2016 & Politikids 2016: twin decks of satirical playing cards produced by Peter Green f...
K Deck
“K Deck” political playing cards, USA, c. 2004.
Tuxedo playing cards
Stylish ‘Tuxedo’ playing cards with animal faces created by Natalia Silva, USA, 2016.
The Deck of Hillary
‘The Deck of Hillary’ with quotes and photographs of Hillary Clinton, USA, 2003.
Shakespeare playing cards: Insults
Shakespeare Insults playing cards with portraits by Jan Padover, USA, 2005.
Shakespeare playing cards: Quotes
Shakespeare playing cards: Quotes, the first volume of a double set published by Prospero Art of San...
Old Testament playing cards
Old Testament playing cards with illustrations by Jan Padover, USA, 2012.
Politicards 2008
Politicards ’08 with caricatures cast as characters from classic movies, USA.
Starz behind bars
Starz behind bars playing cards with mug shots of the rich and famous under arrest, USA, 2003.
House of Cards: Deck of Bush
House of Cards: Deck of Bush playing cards presenting reasons not to re-elect President Bush for a s...
Southern Comfort
Southern Comfort whiskey playing cards, USA.
Holy Trinity Church playing cards
Holy Trinity Church commemoration playing cards, USA, 2011.
Batman® playing cards
Characters from Batman: The Animated Series on a pack issued in 1992.
FDR New Deal Deck
Facsimile of ‘FDR New Deal Deck’ of 1934 re-published by Bill Schroeder, USA, 2010.
Gay / Really straight Republican hypocrites
Gay / Really straight Republican hypocrites, USA, 2008
Politically Wild John McCain
“Politically Wild John McCain” published by Newt’s Playing Cards, USA, 2008.
Mohegan Sun playing cards
Mohegan Sun playing cards published by Gemaco for Mohegan Sun casino.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! playing cards
Strange facts from Robert Ripley’s ‘Believe It or Not’ books, in the form of cartoons.
Undressed deck
Undressed deck created by Edi Rudo and Néro Catineau, USA, 2020.
Fate fortune telling cards
Fate fortune telling cards published by Merrimack Publishing Corporation, USA.
Politicards 2004
Politicards 2004 with satirical cartoons by the award-winning illustrator Peter Green, USA.
Politicards 1971
Politicards 1971 for the presidential election in which Richard Nixon won a landslide victory.
Politicards 1996
Politicards ’96 with satirical caricatures on every card by Peter Green, USA.
Politicards 1984
Politicards 1984 with caricatures by Donald Gates, published by the Kamber Group, USA.
Politicards 1980
Politicards 1980 in which Ronald Reagan defeated the incumbent Jimmy Carter, with caricatures by Kei...
Card Tricks
Stereotypical representations of gay men and men they most admire, in a 1981 pack from San Francisco...
Royal flash playing cards
Royal flash playing cards with non-standard suits, USA, 1974.
Ms. playing cards
‘Ms. playing cards’ promoting votes for women, USA, 1975.
Old Met playing cards
Old Met playing cards published by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, USA, 1986.
Don Quixote playing cards
Don Quixote playing cards designed by Nam Tibon, USA, 2016.
Calaveras De Azúcar
Calaveras De Azúcar playing cards produced by Natalia Silva, USA, 2017.
52 Ways to talk about adoption
‘52 Ways to talk about adoption’ family-centred playing cards produced by the Center for Adoption Su...
Russian folk art playing cards
Russian folk art playing cards produced by Natalia Silva, USA, 2017.
Trump playing cards
Trump playing cards produced by the Godesky brothers, USA, 2016.
Winstanley Geographical cards
Facsimile of Winstanley’s Geographical cards produced by Harold & Virginia Wayland, 1967.
Brooks dna playing cards
Brooks dna playing cards produced by Gemaco for Brooks running shoes.