In 1891 the Russell and Morgan Printing Company changed its name to the United States Printing Company (USPn.), a name which it retained for the next few years. This US8aa Ace, discovered since the original Hochman Encyclopedia was issued, is very similar to the US8b ace of spades, which was issued immediately after, in 1894. The only difference is in the wording “Printing Company,” which was later replaced by “Playing Card Co.” on the US8b ace. The US8aa deck came with the Joker shown below, which is identical to the US8b joker, and very similar to the US8d joker. I only have one US8aa deck with an original joker, a blue Wheel No. 1.

Finding any back design issued with this ace is extremely difficult. The US8aa boxes are even harder to find as they were made with a particularly brittle and acidic cardboard which just gets more fragile with time.

The final image, below, is of a very rare US8aa box that was presumably issued with a “seconds” quality deck of cards. Bicycle Seconds were offered through the years, sometimes with a special ace of clubs or a rubber stamp on the card.

Back Designs Issued in this Style:

  3. Angel
21. Cupid (Sod)
28. Emblem
37. Lotus
56. New Fan
65. Safety
80. Wheel No. 1

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