Introduced in 1894. A lovely back design that has been revived several times since it was discontinued in 1943.

Cupid was first issued in what collectors usually call the Sod back (click on the link to the left below). The version pictured here is called Crosshatch in reference to the design between the bicycle wheels that replaced the grass seen on the earlier version. It is common in red and blue, but very rare in green or brown. Even single cards in the latter colors are seldom seen. In 2017 I noticed that the earliest US8b issue of the crosshatch Cupid has the same one-way design element as the Sod version of Cupid, described and shown on the Cupid Sod page. The first image, below, shows an example of this rare variant of Cupid.

The second image, below, shows the bridge size version of Cupid issued in 1918 for pinochle in comparison to the standard back. I have never seen any complete decks of this narrow pinochle deck, although several back designs were shown as available in this size in the 1918 USPCC catalogue (see the New Fan back page for another example of the pinochle back).

The next image is of a Cupid No. 86 bridge deck, with an April 1, 1919 overprint on the tax stamp. This is the only Cupid bridge deck I have ever seen.

Following is an original brass Cupid printing plate. These plates are very hard to come by. I know the U.S. Playing Card Company has many in its archive and I suppose a few were discarded over the years or perhaps given to employees. Rumor has it that this one used to reside on the desk of the president of USPCC and was presumably used as a paperweight.

Also pictured below is a simplified red and gold version of Cupid released by USPCC in 1997. I have only seen this deck in red. It came in a cellophane wrapper without a box. A limited number were sold on eBay in the mid-2000s, but I haven’t seen it offered since then, so this version of Cupid is probably relatively scarce. A similar deck was released more recently in red and blue versions with gold ink. This new gold version more closely resembles the original Cupid back, with greater detail in the design, distinguishing it from the 1997 deck. Cupid was also rereleased by USPCC as one of several decks in the Heritage series.

The Cupid design was used very effectively on poker chips as well. See the last image, below.