Bicycle Calendar Card Questions

[tobyedwards]

I have several calendar playing cards that advertise Bicycle playing cards on the front and almost always have one of the known Bicycle backs.

The first photo shows a calendar card from 1898 with an Old Fan blue back. The advertising is for a Canadian company.
My question here is why would someone issue a calendar card which has a back design that was discontinued 4 years earlier in 1894 and presumably no longer available for sale? Did Bicycle backs have an extended life in Canada after they were discontinued in the U.S.?

The second photo shows a calendar card from 1904 but, surprisingly, it does not have one of the known Bicycle designs on the back. Instead, it has a design known as Scroll which ran under USPC's Pinochle # 48 brand. Does anyone else know of a playing card that advertises the Bicycle brand on the front in this fashion but does not have a Bicycle design on the back? Has anyone ever heard of a Bicycle deck with the Scroll back?

[Don Boyer]

It's possible it was simply a case of someone at USPC grabbing whatever design was available.  They needed to churn out some calendars, they noticed there was a back design that wasn't in use, decided "what the heck, it's paid for" and used it.

Just a guess.

For a more modern example of something similar, look at the Bicycle Dragon Back decks.  They were advertised as being a long-lost back design, thought to have never been printed, and were "colorized" for their Bicycle release a handful of years ago.  In fact, it was an old Tally Ho design - I've seen it for sale on eBay as a single swap card.  Someone found it in the archives, decided "what the heck, it's paid for" and used it!