Introduced in 1918 and apparently withdrawn from circulation in 1918. Toward the end of the first World War, the United States Playing Card Company produced four “War Series” decks under the Bicycle brand to represent each of the branches of the U.S. armed services: Big Gun for the Army, Dreadnaught for the Navy, Flying Ace for the Air Force, and Conqueror (aka Invincible) for the Marine Corp. The decks were printed in 1917, and evidently only given an extremely limited release before being withdrawn from circulation. It is unknown why the decks were not circulated, but one theory is that they were intended to be distributed to the troops overseas, and USPCC destroyed their inventory of the War Decks when Armistice was declared in 1918. The other three designs in the War Series can be seen by clicking on these links: Big Gun, Dreadnaught, and Flying Ace.

In total, only seven of these extremely rare decks are in collectors’ hands today. Of the seven, one is a red Conqueror deck, pictured below. But this raises an interesting question for us all: why did Mrs. Robinson name this deck “Invincible” in her scrupulously researched pamphlet when what may be the only known original box is clearly marked “Conqueror?” The second image below does nothing to put this issue to rest. This is a page from an extensive salesman’s sample book of all USPCC decks produced around 1917 and it offers a very nice overview of the War Series. Each deck is named on its respective sample card with the exception, of course, of Invincible/Conqueror.

The final image, below, is my display of the four complete War Series decks that I own.