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Identifying and dating Kem brand decks & why are they always dated 1935 or 1947

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Mike Ratledge

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Anybody that watches eBay and other sites knows that you see Kem decks all the time shown as "1935" & "1947", when they obviously are not that old. Why? Pretty simple, really, and I am going to give most people the benefit of the doubt, and say it's an honest mistake. Sometimes it is not, but most of the time, it probably is.

Here's the thing: every deck of Kem branded cards made from 1935 until 2004 when they got absorbed by USPCC has the same Ace of Spades. It looks like this one:
(See Picture #1)

Notice the date of the copyright - ©1935.  As Don pointed out, this AoS from a 'newer' upright case is from January, 1954.

Sometimes you'll see them advertised as 1947. Again, simple explanation. Check the replacement card put in every Kem deck made from 1947 to 1970 or later:
(See Picture #2)

Sure enough - every single deck or pair at least has a card with COPYRIGHT 1947 along the bottom edge of the card.

One last thing. You see an awful lot of claims that the case is Bakelite. Bakelite itself is rare, collectable and expensive. Do they all come in Bakelite cases? Of course not. Again, there are visual cues: (See Picture #3)

The spread out K E M wide spaced letters IS indeed Bakelite! The small KEM centered on the box is not, so the two on the left are Bakelite and the one on the right is not.

Later cases came in more simple and plain black flat plastic cases, and even later in slip cases similar to Congress brand decks. Those were used after USPCC bought the company, but before 1970 when it was merged into Congress (more or less).

I'll take a shot in the dark and say that Bakelite was used from 1935 to 1950ish, similar plastic cases in the same shape until about 1965, the simpler black plastic flat cases until about 1980 and the slip cases until 2004. Are those dates perfect? Certainly not! Are they close? You bet!  In most cases the Ace of Spades contains a 3- or 4-digit date code in the MMYY (or MYY) format for Month and Year.

Last thing: how much are they worth? It varies too widely to say for sure, but Bakelite is the first publicly available plastic, a phenolic brittle plastic, which is why they are chipped or broken easily. The case itself is worth $25-$30. The card decks? Hard to say - in general they made a lot of them, not always, but most of the time. Some aren't worth much, some are worth $50-$100 and a few odd examples are worth more, up to $250, but that is truly unusual - most are in that $50-$75 range if they are in the old Bakelite case. Newer ones, generally less.

(updated date ranges and AoS date codes with Don's plethora of knowledge)
« Last Edit: May 17, 2014, 10:04:54 AM by Mike Ratledge »
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Don Boyer

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The "dating" on the older Kem decks isn't dating, it was simple copyrighting.  The Ace was copyrighted in 1935 and the replacement card was copyrighted in 1947.

There's a three or four digit code on all their Aces of Spades.  The last two digits are the year of manufacture and the other digits are the month.  Your AoS shown is from January 1954, so you were very close.

The Bakelite cases were first, if I recall, with either a single deck or two decks side by side, stored vertically.  I don't know exactly when it happened, but eventually they dropped the Bakelite and the convenient packaging for the more modern plastic boxes that store two decks side by side, flat, making them great for bridge or poker night at the house but a lot less practical to carry around without obtaining some kind of separate case of your own.  It was probably for reasons having to do with the cellulose acetate warping if the cards are stored on their edge or something similar.

Kem was acquired by USPC in 2004, the same year USPC was acquired by Jarden.  They severely stripped down the number of production models, so now there's typically less than a dozen backs available at any given time.  Many poker players feel that the new decks are inferior to the older ones made in New York before the acquisition - current-issue decks come from the plant at Erlanger, and Cincinnati before that.  Combine that with the abundance of other manufacturers in the game by now and Kem isn't the shining star it once was.

They were made the official deck of the World Series of Poker in 2007 (with the Bicycle brand name on them) and have suffered two major scandals since.  The first was their '07 debut, with the first use of the "Poker Peek" design, which players found so confusing (the 6s and 9s looked too similar) that the decks were swapped out early in the tournament for standard Kem decks.  Adding insult to injury, they also had the commissioner's name misspelled on the back of every card.  The second was in 2011, when it was learned that two players bribed USPC print shop employees to include a subtle mark on the cards to differentiate low cards (values 2 through 7, with the spades being more prominent) from the rest.  The markings were discovered during a round being played on the "mothership" table - the center table with all the bright lights used for final rounds and such.  The fix for the problem, considered as bizarre then as it is now, was to move the game to a more dimly-lit table where the markings were no longer visible to the players.

And enough about Kem history...  :))

But yeah, that's the date mark, and I didn't even learn of it until recently.  I'm not certain if USPC continues to use the mark on modern Kem decks or not since I haven't handled a Kem deck made since then aside from a pair of 2011 WSOP decks (I still can't find the markings on them).
« Last Edit: May 17, 2014, 12:27:52 AM by Don Boyer »
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Mike Ratledge

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Corrected the OP with your plethora of knowledge, Don.  It wouldn't kill me if you just edited once in a while.  ;)  I did forget to put the AoS dating in there, it's always been the MMYY (or MYY) if it's there at all as far as I know.  My guess that they switch from Bakelite to other plastic in the upright cases as opposed to the even later side-by-side flat format is because Union Carbide bought the Bakelite Company in 1939 and made that brand until 1949/50 and the factory in Britain lasted a few more years.  I suppose Kem had a 'stock' of some cases when that happened and likely chose another plastic when they ran out of them a few years later.  It was originally developed by a Flemish guy Leo Baekeland (Belgium) in New York in 1907.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2014, 10:06:20 AM by Mike Ratledge »
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Don Boyer

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Corrected the OP with your plethora of knowledge, Don.  It wouldn't kill me if you just edited once in a while.  ;)  I did forget to put the AoS dating in there, it's always been the MMYY (or MYY) if it's there at all as far as I know.  My guess that they switch from Bakelite to other plastic in the upright cases as opposed to the even later side-by-side flat format is because Union Carbide bought the Bakelite Company in 1939 and made that brand until 1949/50 and the factory in Britain lasted a few more years.  I suppose Kem had a 'stock' of some cases when that happened and likely chose another plastic when they ran out of them a few years later.  It was originally developed Leo Baekeland of Belgium in New York in 1907.

My bigger reason for mentioning the cases was that the original case designs, in my opinion, are superior to the present one, regardless of what material is used for it.  It was a pocketable, portable box with what appears to be a securely-fastening lid, whereas the current issue for the last 30 years or more has been a tabletop design that doesn't stay closed on its own, with only gravity holding it in place.  I love those earlier boxes and despise the newer ones.
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Mike Ratledge

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Corrected the OP with your plethora of knowledge, Don.  It wouldn't kill me if you just edited once in a while.  ;)  I did forget to put the AoS dating in there, it's always been the MMYY (or MYY) if it's there at all as far as I know.  My guess that they switch from Bakelite to other plastic in the upright cases as opposed to the even later side-by-side flat format is because Union Carbide bought the Bakelite Company in 1939 and made that brand until 1949/50 and the factory in Britain lasted a few more years.  I suppose Kem had a 'stock' of some cases when that happened and likely chose another plastic when they ran out of them a few years later.  It was originally developed Leo Baekeland of Belgium in New York in 1907.

My bigger reason for mentioning the cases was that the original case designs, in my opinion, are superior to the present one, regardless of what material is used for it.  It was a pocketable, portable box with what appears to be a securely-fastening lid, whereas the current issue for the last 30 years or more has been a tabletop design that doesn't stay closed on its own, with only gravity holding it in place.  I love those earlier boxes and despise the newer ones.
True, of course the older ones that actually are Bakelite are collectible by both antiquers and card collectors.  People give good money for small pieces of Bakelite these days and it's not that easy to find.

As I noted, the actual Bakelite box itself is likely worth $25-$30, my mom has several nice pieces that are worth $200-$250 simply because of the size.  One thing for certain: without even looking at the emblem on the top you can tell Bakelite boxes by the weight.  They are considerably heavier then the same style "other" plastic boxes!   Those flat side-by-side boxes aren't easy to 'pocket' and take with you, and the old ones will pull your pants off. ;)
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Don Boyer

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Those flat side-by-side boxes aren't easy to 'pocket' and take with you, and the old ones will pull your pants off. ;)

Pull my pants off?  I dunno - it takes a lot to pull MY pants off!

Seriously, though - I don't get what you mean by that.  In what way would the old one pull my pants off?
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52plusjoker

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There is an interesting advertising deck for a fire alarm company that came in a Bakelite box shaped like a fire alarm box. It sells for $400-500 because of cross over interest with fire alarm collectors!
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52plusjoker

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Those flat side-by-side boxes aren't easy to 'pocket' and take with you, and the old ones will pull your pants off. ;)

Pull my pants off?  I dunno - it takes a lot to pull MY pants off!

Seriously, though - I don't get what you mean by that.  In what way would the old one pull my pants off?
Weight of Bakelite versus lighter boxes?
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Mike Ratledge

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Those flat side-by-side boxes aren't easy to 'pocket' and take with you, and the old ones will pull your pants off. ;)

Pull my pants off?  I dunno - it takes a lot to pull MY pants off!

Seriously, though - I don't get what you mean by that.  In what way would the old one pull my pants off?
Weight of Bakelite versus lighter boxes?
Exactly.  I can close my eyes and pick up two and know which is which very easily.  If I grab two that are both Bakelite I balance quite well instead of tilt to one side.
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Don Boyer

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Those flat side-by-side boxes aren't easy to 'pocket' and take with you, and the old ones will pull your pants off. ;)

Pull my pants off?  I dunno - it takes a lot to pull MY pants off!

Seriously, though - I don't get what you mean by that.  In what way would the old one pull my pants off?
Weight of Bakelite versus lighter boxes?
Exactly.  I can close my eyes and pick up two and know which is which very easily.  If I grab two that are both Bakelite I balance quite well instead of tilt to one side.

Ah.  I've only ever seen Bakelite on a few of the vintage transistor radios my dad collected and I can't say I ever tried sticking any of them in my pocket, seeing as how they were the size of a breadbox...

That older box design, in modern plastic, would make this a much more portable deck, something worth carrying around.  Maybe it only takes someone making a deck that's meant to be carried, like a magician's deck, under the Kem brand...
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