Question re: Bicycle tuck boxes

[Chuqii]

Quick question I'm sure someone can answer for me.

When did Bicycle cards switch from older tuck box to newer tuck box? 

Anyone have a pictoral history of Bicycle tuck boxes?

Thanks for the help.

[Cryptocard27]

Quick question I'm sure someone can answer for me.

When did Bicycle cards switch from older tuck box to newer tuck box? 

Anyone have a pictoral history of Bicycle tuck boxes?

Thanks for the help.

Boxes has changed according to the evolution of the United States Playing Card Company and their decks. The first Bicycle boxes were published in 1885, four years after the creation of the company in 1881. The Aces of Spades for the decks in these boxes read "Russell & Morgan Printing Co." For the next boxes, I tried to build a small board with the photos of boxes to illustrate this evolution. It is possible that there is some errors for dates but normally, it is close to reality.

[Chuqii]

Perfect.  Great information, as always.

[Don Boyer]

I will add to this that with the change of the location to Erlanger, Kentucky, the company redesigned the Bicycle box again - just in appearance, not in form factor.  The old box, referred to by modern collectors as the "classic" box, is still available from USPC as the "Bicycle 807" deck - many magician's gaffs rely on the older design.  But at most retail locations, decks made after 2009 are typically sold in what's referred to as the "Standard" box, because of the replacing of the phrase "Rider Back" on the box front with the word "Standard," as in the new name for what was once called "poker-sized."  At most retail locations, the Rider Back is the only back available most of the time, so I suppose the company opted not to single it out as such, thinking of it more as the "standard" design.  Note the box top reads "standard size" on the left and "standard index" on the right.  The box back is no longer just a simple image of the card back design - it's an advertisement of sorts, with some text with images of the cards displayed.

I should add that the Bicycle 807 deck tuck box is nearly identical to the tuck boxes made at the end of the Cincinnati plant's run, with the exception of the city's "address" no longer found on the box side and the box bottom conforms to the modern format (lists city of manufacture, copyright date [which is also usually the year of manufacture] and a bunch of legalese).  The cards INSIDE the box are IDENTICAL to the Bicycle 808s appearing in the Standard boxes - same exact cards, slipped into old-school looking packages.  As with all Erlanger-made decks, the deck's seal is a sticker with white lettering on a black background with a white border.

Image from webstaurantstore.com

[skinny]

Was there a determinable period when the tucks opened from the front rather than the back? 3A and 3B in that picture (pre-1925 per the tax stamp) open from the front.

I have newer (1940+) decks that all open from the back (Rider, Oak Leaf, New Fan).
The 1939 [1919?] Stag Backs open from the front.

If you flip the Stag Backs over, all the printing (including direction) matches the other decks, leaving just the face and back swapped.

Any thoughts?

[Cryptocard27]

If you want to know more information about Bicycle playing cards, I recommend you to visit the very interesting website of a Bicycle expert member:

http://www.cypressfilms.com/bicycle/

In addition, you can also visit this webpage:

http://a.trionfi.eu/WWPCM/decks06/d04331/d04331box808.htm

[Pip Nosher]

There are many variations on the older Bicycle boxes. Sometimes a box we associate with one ace of spades will appear with a later deck inside. I am pretty sure that the factory didn't hesitate to mix new decks with old boxes, and probably the reverse as well, as a way of clearing inventory. Collectors will also pair an orphan deck with an empty box, and while it's nice to find a home for a loose deck, these matches are not always correct.

As to the question of which side the box opens on, my experience is that most older US8c (1905-1925) boxes open on the front, or the side with the familiar large "Bicycle" with the spade below. But, the earlier US8d (c.1900 -  c.1905) boxes all open on the back, or the side with the joker riding the bicycle. Later US8c decks open on either side and I'm not sure if there was a date on which that changed or whether it just changed from one print run to another. But throughout the history of Bicycle cards there were dozens of minor changes made to the box designs--sometimes the back name is included, sometimes not, some have the Murray's patent finger cuts, some do not, a few even had the back design printed inside the tuck, etc.

One of my personal favorite Bicycle boxes is this 1917 Club back with the tamper-proof tab, pictured below. You can't open the deck without ripping the tab off. This is the only deck I have ever seen with this box design.

I do have several pictures of each style box on my site, along with the matching ace and joker: www.bicyclecards.org (redirects to cypressfilms.com/bicycle).
Just click on the respective numbers on the bottom of the home page (US8, US8a, etc.). I hope this is helpful!

[skinny]

That sealed box is ... amazing. Wow.

I'm still guessing there is a fairly definitive date for the switch, because I haven't found anything markedly inconsistent  from 1939 to 1945. I'm specifically talking about the 8e era, only box 3b above.

I keep a cypress tab open at all times, by the way. Good stuff!

[Pip Nosher]

Thanks, Skinny. I really must do some updates to the site... Soon!

[Cryptocard27]

That is very interesting and I really like the special sealed box too!!

I am just curious about the box pictured below and the deck which it contains. Do you have more infos about it please ? Is it the only tuck box like that in existence?

Thank you

[Don Boyer]

That is very interesting and I really like the special sealed box too!!

I am just curious about the box pictured below and the deck which it contains. Do you have more infos about it please ? Is it the only tuck box like that in existence?

Thank you

If I was forced to guess, it looks like another manufacturer's attempt to mimic without directly imitating the famous Bicycle design in order to sell his own, likely inferior, product.  Counterfeiters of playing cards are all too common today - I once assisted Bill Schildman at USPC in tracking down US distributors of forged Bee playing cards of drastically inferior quality, and some of the more costly decks in the modern custom market have seen forgeries.

The most notorious forgeries would have to be the of the 1970 Jerry's Nugget decks of the types Lee Asher sells - his are completely legit, but the forgeries vary from exceptionally cheap knockoff to reasonable quality for a modern deck, and there are color variations that were never created for the casino's original print run, such as green decks and black decks.  The off colors, I believe, were made in part as a way to try avoiding the wrath of eBay, which prohibits the sale of counterfeit merchandise of any kind - they were marketed as "imitations," "facsimiles," etc.  But as these copies bore no such markings indicating anywhere they were copies, nor were they made with the permission of the casino, they get pulled whenever eBay finds them, either on their own or by the diligence of their account holders notifying them.

Even magician's decks aren't immune.  Ellusionist makes a deck of Bicycle red Rider Back gaff cards called "Ultragaff" that retails for $29.95 and has a separately-sold series of three DVDs in increasing levels of difficulty with instruction on the use of these gaffs and card work in general, each volume of which is also $29.95.  Members of this forum have posted about knock-offs of dubious origin of the Ultragaff being found for sale, believed to have been of Chinese origin.  The fake decks are of fair but poorer quality compared to the original USPC-made product, and can be immediately identified by the multiple misspellings of various text found on the bottom of the box.

There's also a long history of other companies reprinting "abandoned" USPC card backs when the copyright on them expired, such as these Rally Playing Cards, available in paper and plastic from US Games Systems, using what appears to be an old Bicycle back, Automobile No. 1, listed as #13 in Robinson.

[52plusjoker]

On one visit to USPC when valuing their collection, Judy and I discovered a whole box of different and rather poor imitations of Bicycle decks which their patent and legal people had accumulated over the years. Lots of little companies, mainly in far off places, trying to cash in on the Bicycle brand name.

[Cryptocard27]

On one visit to USPC when valuing their collection, Judy and I discovered a whole box of different and rather poor imitations of Bicycle decks which their patent and legal people had accumulated over the years. Lots of little companies, mainly in far off places, trying to cash in on the Bicycle brand name.

Can we deduce that the red Motor back apparently in this blue "Motor Bicycle" box is an antique replica?

http://a.trionfi.eu/WWPCM/decks06/d04331/d04331box808.htm

[Pip Nosher]

While I have seen many Bicycle knock-offs, and own some very funny ones, I have a different theory from Don's about this particular box. There were several Bicycle back designs that were exported to the United Kingdom, most famously the two color back designs (Saddle, Chain and Handlebar). A number of other decks also appear in the distinctive red UK sleeve boxes. But, Steve Bowling and I have also found a few decks--very few--that appear to have been sold in custom tuck boxes, made especially for the UK market. I believe this box is one of these. I own this particular one, and it came paired with a blue Auto No. 2 deck, not a red deck.

Next post I'll share another variation on the UK Bicycle box.