Subtle Differences

Today I was at a party goods store looking around. At the store there was an assortment of casino playing cards for sale. I was looking through the cards and there was 1 deck of playing cards from the Mirage in Las Vegas. Something looked different in my mind, it looked like the logo was thicker than the original decks I purchased in 1989 soon after the property opened. I never noticed the difference before. The deck I bought at the store had a code dating the deck as manufactured in 2005.

Above is a back style soon after the opening of the Mirage, these cards were purchased in December 1989.The above back style has a USPC date code dating it approximately 2005. Notice the logo is thicker and the base of one of the palm tree's is located next to the dot in the letter "i" in Mirage. The gold color in the palms has more of a yellowish color.

Above is an image of the cards superimposed on top of each other. The 1989 back style has a shorter wider logo oval. The 2005 cards have a narrow and taller logo oval. and the logo style is thicker.

I do not know at this time when the style was changed. I guess I should have paid closer attention.

Going International

My collection of casino playing cards is mainly from North America, Caribbean and Austrailia. I have a few decks from casinos and clubs in Europe. I do not have any from the new hotbed of gaming Macau, even though I have tried for years to get an example of a deck from STDM (Dr. Stanley Ho's Monopoly) prior to the expansion of gaming licenses to other operators.

Since I have been scanning cards I have found a new way to catalog the cards in an easy to follow format and I have started cataloging the collection to create a new guide. But I really wanted to get an international presence in my collection so I have been trying to contact casinos and clubs around the world to make the catalog a worth while project.
So if you have any decks, singles or a good scan of some foreign casino playing cards please drop me a line at mpetty4@cox.net I am looking for anything from Asia, Australia/Pacific, Europe, Africa (Especially scans from South African casinos because I have been told they destroy their cards by law) South America and Central America.

Closed Casinos

Here are a sample of cards from casinos or card rooms that are no longer in business.

Cameo Club - Palo Alto, CA

El Dorado - Blackhawk, CO

Molly's - Central City, Co

Harveys - Council Bluffs, IA

Casino Belle - Dubuque, IA

Riverfront Station - St. Charles, MO

Sam's Town - Kansas City, MO

Harrah's at Trump Plaza - Atlantic City, NJ

Playboy - Atlantic City, NJ

Kings Castle - Incline Village, NV

Ed's Tahoe Nugget - Stateline, NV

MGM Grand Reno - Reno, NV

Eddie's Fabulous 50's - Reno, NV

Mac's Casino (at Nevada Crossing) - Wendover, NV

Station House - Tonopah, NV

Kactus Kate's (Whiskey Pete's still in business) - Primm, NV

Anthony's - Las Vegas, NV

Castaway's (Strip) - Las Vegas, NV

Cattle Baron - Henderson, NV

MGM Sands (very short lived) - Las Vegas, NV

Nob Hill - Las Vegas, NV

Little Caesar's - Las Vegas, NV

Landmark - Las Vegas, NV

International - Las Vegas, NV

Holiday International - Las Vegas, NV

Dunes - Las Vegas, NV

My Favorite Older Casino Playing Cards

These cards are in no special order, some I like for the design, some I like for the memories. If you have any cards to share please feel free to send me your images.

The Most Expensive Casino Playing Cards

Today on Ebay I noticed that 2 unopened sealed decks were at $150.00 and the reserve was not even met yet. And there were almost 4 days left until the auction is over. Where are the playing cards from? Jerry's Nugget located in North Las Vegas, Nevada.

Why are these cards so sought after and the prices so high? Magicians.... yes, magicians value the cards for card tricks. Do a "Google" search on "Jerry's Nugget Magician" and you will find all kinds of sites, pages and blogs dedicated to one of the most perfect magician cards.

What about Fakes?
With prices so high, someone one day is going to come up with counterfeit Jerry's Nugget Playing Cards. What can you do to possibly protect yourself from such counterfeiters? Have casino cards ever been counterfeited or knocked-off? Yes, the Sand's Regency in Reno. There are knock-offs floating around being sold at truck stops, gift shops, etc... so if someone would knock-off a regular casino card then they would knock-off something of higher value.

Protect Yourself
The cards were manufactured by the United States Playing Card Company. So the bottom of the tuck box should be glued, not a inserted flap, look for the USPC stamp on the flap. I don't have a deck from Jerry's Nugget I have individual cards. So I don't know what is printed on the sides or the back of the box. One of the most important thing that may help is the Ace of Spades on USPC cards has a letter and number code that are assigned to each printing project. The letter code somewhat corresponds to the year of manufacturer and the 4 digit number follows the letter. These are older cards so the color of the code is BLUE. The Code I have on my single aces in my collection are M 4924. If the code is in BLACK then it's probably a knock-off, because USPC did not change the code colors from Blue to Black until the mid 1980's. If there is no code it's probably a knock-off, if the second number from the left is not a 9 it's probably a knock-off. Below is a cut off scan of a Ace of Spades, the code is actually in blue.

Please if you have an actual deck of the Jerry's Nugget cards please share your code located on the Ace of Spades by posting a reply below, this may help magicians and collectors in the future.

One Last Comment on Jerry's Nugget
When in Las Vegas and you want a awesome prime rib dinner at a reasonable price you should try Jerry's Nugget! I would like to also mention that Jerry's Nugget has great food and their bakery goods are to die for. Not in the best part of town, but you will feel safe there, a little oasis in North Las Vegas, make an effort to visit Jerry's Nugget when visiting Las Vegas!

Visit Jerry's Nugget website: www.jerrysnugget.com