Hochman US55 United States Printing Co. Additional Information

[tobyedwards]

Although I do not own an example of this deck, I do have the joker card pictured on page 107 of the United States Playing Card chapter in the Hochman/Dawson Encyclopedia. When I first acquired it many years ago, I wondered what the back design represented as it seemed to contradict the US55 listing description which stated that it was "advertising their own company." How could this be when the blue back design on my card clearly showed the initials "I.N. Co." which is obviously not related to USPC? Well, last week I saw another single card listing on eBay which had these same initials in a somewhat similar, yet different, red design but with the company name clearly spelled out, namely, "International Navigation Company" which was formed in 1871 and existed until 1902 when the name was changed to "International Mercantile Marine" so the approximate date for this deck clearly fell into this range. I then checked the image on the face of the joker and knew that that flag did not represent USPC. In reading about the International Navigation Company, I came across a picture of a button from one of their uniforms and there was the eagle logo which appears on this flag. Pictures of all of these corroborating facts are shown below. I believe I can now say with some certainty that the deck shown under the US55 heading does not advertise the U.S. Printing Co. but, instead, is an advertising deck for the International Navigation Company which happens to use a standard U.S. Printing Company Ace of Spades. This treatment is somewhat similar to that used for the Glenlivet Whisky advertising deck shown under the later US55a listing which also has a special joker and back design although that USPC ace of spades does read "Glenlivet Whisky" and it's maker's name on the face of an otherwise standard design with the USPC trademark Ace.

[tobyedwards]

Here is a follow-up to this older post concerning the International Navigation Company. I have managed to locate yet a third different back design advertising this company but this time the deck was manufactured by Andrew Dougherty using their Indicator Playing Cards brand with the standard Ace of Spades shown under the Hochman AD15 listing in the Dawson/Hochman encyclopedia. Unfortunately, my deck lacks the joker, therefore, I do not know if it was one of the earlier standard jokers issued with the Indicator brand or if it was especially designed for this company. The two pictures below show the front and back of the original box, the latter of which displays the wonderfully ornate back design. The tuck flap of the box mentions the patent date of Oct. 27, 1885 and the sides mention 2 of their shipping lines (Red Star & American) as well as 3 of their destinations out of New York (Antwerp, Southampton & London). I would estimate the date of this deck to be sometime during the 1890's.