Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1491617 in Books
• Published on: 1999-06-23
• Format: Import
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews

Authentic historical reproduction 53 card deck: Civil War Period.
Box size (card fit tightly inside).
3-9/16 inches high.
2-5/8 inches wide.
3/4 inch thick.

So, about the same size as a modern Poker deck.

53 cards: In England during 19th century an address of the manufacturer was by law imprinted onto the Ace of Spades for tax collection purposes. British card makers went ahead and put their fancy trademarks there too. And American makers followed suit (so to speak).

The original A spade, and a plainer replacement which matches the other cards are both included. It occurs to me that one of these can be considered the joker if the game needs one.

L.I. Cohen was using a trade secret printing press which stamped 4 colors at the same time, by which his cards were cheaper to make at each quality level. Thus he succeeded so well that his heirs would merge with others into the modern giant: United States Playing Card Company.

This is a reproduction of the brand and similar style which citizens or soldiers during the Civil War would have used.

Which cards are different from the modern?

All of them!

The pip cards have no numbers in the corners, and the courts no letters K,Q,J.

The face card single images cover the card instead of being divided into reversible upside down halves.

The corners are not rounded.

Printing irregularities on the face sides: (tiny spots where the ink is missing or runs very slightly outside the borders, etc): exactly like cards of that era commonly had, unless you paid a fortune for a very special deluxe deck.

However, the back designs and card shape are very regular so the cards are not unfairly "marked", this too was normal historically.

Very authentic yet cheap enough to use for an interesting change at your next card game session.