The pack is a replica of
a deck made in 1877 when two major card
companies worked out a neat, but currently
illegal, sales agreement. The deck was designed
to commemorate the merger of the New York
Consolidated Card Company and the A. Dougherty
Company, to be known as Consolidated Dougherty.
Card magicians will know this name from
the Tally-Ho decks popularized by the New
York magicians of the 40s, specifically
Dai Vernon. With the merger came the nice
agreement to split up sales territory with
each staying on his own home ground. The
design pictures two ferocious bulldogs straining
toward each other at the chains that bind
them to their dog houses. One dog's collar
says "Squeezer" and the other says "Trips"
for the companies' respective brands.
New York Consolidated made
a brand called Squeezers with numbers in
the corners like we use today. If you have
ever cupped cards in your hand and sort
of squeezed them into a fan to see the corner
values you'll quickly understand the name
Squeezers. Poker players will almost always
squeeze the hand into a fan so only the
smallest part of the corners come into view.
A. Dougherty had his own system. He reproduced
the original card in the corners and called
the brand Triplicate or Trips. Triplicates
could be read three ways. Twice in the two
corners and once by counting the center
pips. Thus the name Triplicates, or what
has become known as Trips. Hence, the names
on the dogs' collars. The dogs are chained
to their houses to point up the agreement
to remain on home turf for sales territories.
Thus, "There is a tie that binds us to our
homes." If you think about the names it
becomes clear that all cards today are both
Triplicates and Squeezers. (European cards
and the aces used in some casinos don't
qualify as they are often numbered in all
four corners.)
The two card companies
mentioned were acquired years later by the
United States Playing Card Company. It's
rather interesting that the Bulldog Squeezer
back design has remained unchanged for more
than 100 years. The quality and texture
of the deck is the same as used in the popular
Bicycle playing cards used throughout the
country. The Joker is the same as seen in
the Tally-Ho decks popular with magicians;
however, missing the words "Tally-Ho." The
Ace of Spades is unique to the Squeezer
design, and also was used in the Angel Back
Squeezer decks from Dougherty. My gut feeling
is that this joker and ace design are not
from the original 1877 deck, though I have
no way of really knowing this. Oddly, the
USPC Company is not a reliable source for
information on the history of their cards.
The company has gone through extensive changes
over the years, and though they maintain
a museum of sorts, much historical information
has been lost or forgotten.
Obviously a Bulldog Squeezer
deck is a blatant one-way back design, though
I never use it as such. Here is a cute bit
of business I have used though. When having
a selected card returned the spectator will
often notice the one-way feature of the
top card. Seeing this he will twist his
card end for end to align it with the top
card of the deck. When this happens I twist
the talon to apparently affect the one-
way feature. He twists his card again, I
twist deck again, saying nothing. After
a few twists by each I fan the deck showing
the backs to run in both directions. It's
a funny little interlude probably understood
only by the person returning the selected
card.
I have used the Bulldog Squeezers
in my career for close to 25 years, simply because
I like relating to an interesting bit of history,
and I like the picture. (No, I don't raise bulldogs,
nor do I even own a dog.) Trade show attendees
seeing me use these cards are often fascinated
when I tell them the story. Quite often they
will ask for one of the decks. If it's near
the end of the day I give them the deck I've
been using. It's not a problem as I carry several
decks for each show. I'm not in the business
of giving away decks of cards, but it's nice
to be able to send a spectator away with a neat
souvenir now and then.
