I have a book called Joshua Jay`s Amazing Book of cards, and in it has alot of stuff on history of cards there is so much amazing stuff I couldn`t even name half of it, plus there is a bunch of tricks, shuffles, things to do with old cards, and scams with cards, Anyway in the book He talks about these cards that the USPCC sent to German POW camps in medical parcels, when these cards were split apart there was escape maps printed inside the layers of the cards the maps were used in several succesfull escapes. It says the decks are Excedingly rare. anyway to anyone who wants to gain some amazing knowledge about cards I suggest getting this book.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Bicycle-Desert-Shield-Ace-Spades-Playing-Cards-Secret-Weapon-57-Cards-/140684623982?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20c175006e#ht_500wt_1202
It even comes with an awesome DVD
You put in the link to the auction, not to the book...
This looks pretty genuine. The box is aged about what you'd expect from a 40-50 year old deck. The cards themselves are in surprisingly good shape, but they appear genuine as well - not only do they not have the Desert Shield markings, but they don't have the normal manufacturer codes used on Bicycle Aces of Spades for about a century, which leads me to believe it was at the least a special print run.
This auction lacked the attention a find like this would normally generate, likely due to the seller mislabeling the auction title with the words "Desert Shield". But there are two caveats to look out for.
1) This guy could try pulling a bait-n-switch, selling you a Desert Shield deck because that's what was in the title.
2) This guy could have used nail polish to remove the "Desert Shield" markings, used aging techniques on the box paper and wrote the autograph himself.
I say this for two reasons - the cards are awfully white to have come from a box that's so yellow, and Vietnam-era Secret Weapon decks are nearly impossible to find, since most of them were used by soldiers in the field. Examine this - wait -
I just got a really good look at the box. The deck seal is authentic to the period - an adhesive stamp that needs to be dampened to be applied instead of a sticker as has been used since the '80s, I think.
You may well have laid your hands on the real deal, dude. It's practically a museum piece, and exceptionally rare; a genuine steal. It does have one too many aces - the originals came with 56, the standard amount from a single sheet ready to be cut. The original owner probably got an extra from another SW deck.
