Similar cards were produced during the Gulf War in 1991, immediately prior to the invasion of Iraq by US forces. The symbol was eventually included in the official psychological warfare operations, and thousands of special decks containing only Aces of Spades were donated by the card company to soldiers that purposely scattered them throughout the jungle and villages during raids. The story was reported by several news outlets, including the Stars and Stripes as a result, more units began to request cards. Stanley was sympathetic to the soldiers and pulled cards from the production line to send free of charge. Upon conferring with other lieutenants, Brown asked for 1,000 Aces of Spades for his company to leave for the enemy to find, as an indication that American troops had been in the area. The Bicycle design of this card featured an image of the Goddess of Liberty combined with the spade. Brown had read remarks from Congressman Craig Hosmer of California that the Viet Cong held superstitions of bad luck with pictures of women and the Ace of Spades. Stanley, the President of the United States Playing Card Company. The origin of the cards is attributed to a letter written by a Lt. In actuality, it initially meant nothing to the Viet Cong, but the belief that the enemy was afraid of the cards improved the U.S. It was erroneously believed that the Viet Cong regarded this particular card as a symbol of death and would flee at the sight of it. The company provided crates of Ace of Spades cards for U.S. Modern reproductions have been sold in limited editions. At least one example of such a deck is known to exist, and is on display at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. These cards were supplied to POWs for use in escapes. Portions of a large map could be drawn on the inside surfaces, and the halves were then reassembled to form an innocuous-looking deck. ĭuring World War II, cards were produced that could be peeled apart when submerged in water. Only a handful of these decks exist today. 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 The decks were printed in 1917, and apparently only given an extremely limited release before being withdrawn from circulation. armed services: Flying Ace for the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps, Dreadnaught for the Navy, Invincible (aka Conqueror) for the Marine Corps, and Big Gun for the Army. Toward the end of the World War I, 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. Other types of cards with varying backs, sizes, colors and custom designs are produced for magic tricks and as novelty and collectors' items. They are available with standard indexes in poker size (3.5 by 2.5 inches ), bridge size (3.5 by 2.25 inches ), and pinochle decks, "Jumbo Index" poker decks and Lo Vision cards that are designed for the visually impaired. Current decks contain two information/instruction cards as well.īicycle playing cards are sold in a variety of designs, the most popular being the Rider Back design. The Bicycle trademark is printed on the ace of spades. Design īicycle cards follow the pattern of the French deck, containing 52 cards (13 in each of two red and two black suits), and include two jokers. The name Bicycle was chosen to reflect the popularity of the bicycle at the end of the 19th century. "Bicycle" is a trademark of that company. Since 1885, the Bicycle brand has been manufactured by the United States Printing Company, which, in 1894, became the United States Playing Card Company (USPCC), now based in Erlanger, Kentucky. Playing card brand Current Bicycle playing cards: Ace of spades, joker, and the "Rider Back" in redīicycle Playing Cards is a brand of playing cards.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |