52 Plus Joker - Cards of the Month: May 1998

Early USPC Jokers and Spade Aces
From the collection of Tom and Judy Dawson
While we have broadened the scope of the organization, 52 Plus Joker was originally founded to promote the collecting of early American decks. This month's exhibit features cards which are prime examples of such decks.

The cards and commentary below come to us from Tom and Judy Dawson, whose passion for early American decks is both widely known, and highly contagious...

*Tourists*		*Tigers*
Ace of Spades Hochman US9	Joker Hochman US9	Ace of Spades Hochman US1a	Joker Hochman US1a

In 1881 A.O.Russell, Robert Morgan and two other partners decided to branch out from just printing to manufacturing playing cards as well. This proved to be an astute move as, within two years, they were forced to build new quarters- five times the size of the existing building!

*Army*		*Navy*
Ace of Spades Hochman US3	Joker Hochman US3a	Ace of Spades Hochman US4	Joker Hochman US4a

Russell & Morgan’s first decks are shown here with some of the earliest Aces and Jokers (because we wanted to show the best and in the case of the Jokers, the most colorful, they don’t necessarily belong together).

*Army/Navy*
Ace of Spades Hochman US5	Joker Hochman US5a

In 1894 The United States Playing Card Co. was formed and their Aces of Spades read "United States Playing Card Co., Russell and Morgan Factories" for nearly 30 years when they finally dropped the R&M name. They are still in existence today and are the largest manufacturer of playing cards in the world.

*Bicycle*		*Steamboat*
Ace of Spades Hochman US8	Joker Hochman US8	Ace of Spades Hochman US7a	Joker Hochman US7a-j

We think that likely the first two brands printed were the Army and the Navy decks (only in existence for a couple of years when they merged to become Army & Navy). Simultaneously were Tigers and Sportsman's. Next in line, introduced in 1883, were Steamboat and Bicycle and finally in 1886, Tourists.