Hello, All,
I frankly don't remember how I came to possess these cards, but I have this bridge set, depicting the USS New York, BB-34, as she would have been seen after her extensive refit in 1926. The tripod masts in lieu of the cage-style masts she bore from 1912-1926, are the primary indicator of the potential dates of these cards for me, as I have not been able to locate any dates or other indicators (to my uneducated eyes) which would tell me when they were printed. They come in a simple cardboard box that consists of a black lower-half and a silver upper lid. The black lower half is divided in two by a cardboard insert. Each deck is of a separate color. One deck being gold with a black border and the other being silver with the same border. Each deck has an identical "Contract Bridge Score" card with scoring listed on one side and advertisement for the manufacturer, Atlantic Playing Card Co. The address noted under the manufacturer's name is 220 East 23rd Street, New York, N.Y., in case that helps narrow any potential leads.
I haven't yet counted the cards or even googled the game of bridge to familiarize myself with it enough to know what I am/am not looking at in that regard. They absolutely smell like all of the other print materials I have from the 1920-1950 timeframe, so I haven't discounted a legitimate tie to the vessel itself, perhaps a custom order by ship's force or some other entity with a direct relation which would have wanted to have their own commemorative deck? I know we still do similar things within operational units these days, so that is the only possibility I have really considered, as I have not found anything online to date which indicates that these cards have a significant presence online.
I did read the article on here (https://www.wopc.co.uk/usa/atlantic-line) written by Simon Wintle regarding this company and these cards certainly match the available choices for custom card formats seen there, but the boxes/containers there are much more extravagant.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Ian
