Introduced in 1914. Discontinued in 1932. Technically, this is not a plaid at all as the dictionary defines a plaid as different colors arranged in a crossbarred pattern (as in a Scottish tartan). A very rare back design, which is somewhat surprising given its long run. Blue singles are scarce, and complete decks in either color are seldom seen.

A collector friend writes, “I have a sample book that probably represents the 1918 edition, based upon the latest back design copyright of 1917. What I found interesting here is that Western Plaid, Snowflake, Star Plaid No. 1 and Tri-Plaid were all available simultaneously under both Bicycle and their Army & Navy #3032 brand, all in red and blue.”

A persistent mystery relating to Western Plaid is the notion that the back design was possibly released in green and brown, in addition to the standard red and blue versions. This idea first surfaced in a 1995 article by collector Jack Ferrrell in Clear the Decks, the magazine of 52 Plus Joker, the card collector’s club (researched by Steve Bowling). Unfortunately, Jack did not show examples, or cite his source for this idea. In August of 2020, another collector, Clay Boulware, emailed me a picture from a 1918 USPCC salesman’s sample book showing what appears to be a green Western Plaid sample card. See the image below. This does not solve the mystery by any means, as the card in question clearly states that the back was available in “Red, Blue” only. My guess is that the printer ignored the formula for Bicycle Blue and mixed a bad batch of ink that day. Unless a brown Western Plaid card surfaces, that’s the story I’m sticking to.