Margin Tri-Plaid
Introduced in 1912. Discontinued in 1917. Another very rare back design–decks or even singles are almost never seen. Oddly, all I have is an empty blue box. I bought it paired with a different back design in the hope that I might someday find a blue Margin Tri-Plaid deck in need of a home. In […]
Margin Star No. 3
Introduced in 1912. Discontinued in 1917. The last and least interesting of the Margin Star series. All that remains in this design is the patterned background. Very rare indeed. I only have one blue single. Pictured below is a single USPCC Steamboat card with the same patterned background in green. The reverse is an advertisement […]
Margin Star No. 2
Introduced in 1907. Discontinued in 1912. A very rare back design–decks or even singles are seldom seen.
Margin Star No. 1
Introduced in 1893. Said to have been discontinued in 1907, although I am skeptical. I have only seen this deck in US8, which would put the end date much earlier. Margin Star No. 1 was recently reissued by USPCC as “Star,” but only in red. See the red card, above, and the second image, below. […]
Margin Snowflake
Introduced in 1910. Discontinued in 1917. I have never seen this back design, apart from the image in Mrs. Robinson’s booklet and the occasional sample card in a salesman’s sample folder or book. Very, very rare. The color in the red example above is generic.
Lotus
Mrs. Robinson noted in her comprehensive booklet on Bicycle cards that Lotus was introduced in 1891, but I have seen several examples in US8a, the earliest version of Bicycle cards, so a more accurate start date is 1885. Discontinued in 1943. Lotus is a lovely back design that can best be described as Egyptian Revival. […]
Oak Leaf
Introduced in 1947 and discontinued in 1949. Oak Leaf is a relatively common deck, at least in its generic form (read on). The Bicycle branded version is more difficult to find. This deck has caused considerable confusion among collectors because it was first issued by USPCC as an unnamed deck for servicemen and women in […]
League
Introduced in 1888 (revised from 1893). Discontinued in 1960. The original 1888 US8 issue of this deck lacked the thin white border (see the first two examples, above). Some later US8b decks and all issues thereafter feature the white border. Complete decks of the borderless variant are quite rare. The basis for revising the start […]
Lantern No. 2
Introduced in 1906. Discontinued in 1939. A very long run for what must have seemed like a dated design by 1939. Old fashioned in concept, but certainly more graphically modern than its predecessor, Lantern No. 1. Very nice examples of this deck in their original boxes are in circulation, although I have never seen Lantern […]
Lantern No. 1
Introduced in 1898. Discontinued in 1906. A very handsome design that was updated in 1906 (see Lantern No. 2), even though it was completely symmetrical. Most designs that were updated had a design element that rendered the back “one-way” or asymmetrical, such as a wheel with three wings in the center (the most common asymmetrical […]