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It's been a good quarter for my KEM collection. 4 new 1st gen Neillite cases, two new clamshells, one new box and some awesome cards (Cameo (C342), Seascape (C87), Kent (C342), Pinochle (C140) and the one I still haven't found a name for, Cosmic Gas Earth (C140). The business card is actually one of the cards from the Pinochle deck.

Update 4/23/15 - Cosmic Gas Earth is actually Stratosphere

Cool! Do you collect Kem exclusively?

I like the backs on those last 2 sets a lot. The patterned one is almost psychedelic looking.
Kem also used a very particular green that I like. I think my own more ordinary Kems have that same green.

Like Eoghann I'd like to know if Kems are your focus. We haven't had a lot of collectors who stick to brands, except Bicycle of course

I do collect mostly KEMs, specifically KEMs from 1935 to around 1945. Here are some of my other cards from that period. I'll post some more cards and cases soon, along with some period advertising I've been able to track down. These backs are Dance, Carnations, Club, Cameo and Regency.

I only have one Kem deck. It's a variant of the red and blue set you have up top. We don't get many Kem collectors around these parts. Love to see more.
That Pinocle back is great.

Thankyou for showing those Chuqii. I have a few of the Club backs, in brown and green. They showed up at the local thrift store, in the original boxes, and some with the cardboard sleeve around the boxes. I figured they must be common?

Dan, did your double deck come in the clamshell box?

Nah, it wasn't a cool clamshell box.
It was an individual deck with a box similar to Chuqii's yacht set.

Chuqii: how do you find out the names for the decks? Do you have some reference books or websites?

What are those "4 new 1st gen Neillite cases"? Can you tell more about them?
Nice decks.

I get most of the names for the backs from newspaper advertising from the 30s and 40s that I researched. Below is one example from the Los Angeles Times.

The Club backs were one of the first KEM designs. They made them for decades, so there are a lot of them out there.

When KEM cards were first sold in 1935, and through about 1939, they came in the kinds of cases shown in the picture. The bottom of the cases is stamped "Neillite," which is a plastic similar to Bakelite. I call these 1st gen since they were the first. The 2nd gen cases are the Bakelite ones with the elongated KEM logo, but no emblem or circle on the top, as seen in the ad. THe 3rd gen are the ones with a more squarish KEM logo with a crown above it.

Information! Thanks for it! Mighty interesting.

Very Succinct and informative Chuqii. We have a thread in the Knowledge Base area of UC that talks about dating Kem decks, as well as another thread in that area that is more generally "How to Date a Deck of Cards". Neither of them covers this aspect of the early KEM boxes and dates like you have here. Thank you.

I would love to find one of those Pinochle back decks.

Chuqii wrote:It's been a good quarter for my KEM collection. 4 new 1st gen Neillite cases, two new clamshells, one new box and some awesome cards (Cameo (C342), Seascape (C87), Kent (C342), Pinochle (C140) and the one I still haven't found a name for, Cosmic Gas Earth (C140). The business card is actually one of the cards from the Pinochle deck.

Very nice! Those pre-1940 Neillite (with silver circular emblem) are hard to find...

MORE OLDER KEM CARDS
Clipper Ship (C342), Duchess (348), Streamline (C1041), Fawn, Gamecock (C443)

Nice cards and boxes! I love KEM cards. Those were the cards we got to use at my grandparents' and parents' houses when we'd play bridge. Fond memories.

Two more for the collection.

Here are some WWII-era KEM cards in a cardboard case with a notice about wartime conditions. This is a Gamecock deck. Cellophane is a bit ratty, but still has one tax stamp.

Chuqii, is the Kem without a date on the ace a very early deck? Interesting backs.

I never thought of plastic as being a rationed material during the war. I know Monopoly games substituted wood tokens for the metal ones since metal was scarce.

Yes, the ace with no date is from one of the earliest KEM decks from 1935 when the company started. The only other place I'd seen an ace with no date was in a Cameo deck in the online version of the Cary Playing Card Collection at Yale - http://brbl-legacy.library.yale.edu/car ... ecCARY.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The link gave me an error message:
"Your query could not be processed. Please re-form your query and try again."
and I couldn't seem to bring up the online version of the collection any other way.

Perhaps you have an access that I don't?

**edit
I was able to get into the Cary Playing Card Database. The first 2 or 3 results of every search I try so far shows broken unviewable images - do you get that too Chuqii?

I'm getting that message, too. Try this link to the search page:

http://brbl-legacy.library.yale.edu/car ... efault.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm getting images on my searches. If you are not, then I've no clue (browser? anti-virus blocker? java?)

Then type in KEM for Maker and that should work. Then have some fun exploring the rest of the database.

Thanks Chuqii.
I made it to the search page before but the searches were bringing up many broken images. I'll try it again tomorrow with a different browser.

I enjoy this KEM thread.

Came across this deck on ebay. I'd never seen the back before, so I scooped it up. Also, I'd never seen a KEM deck with Brown & Bigelow branding on it.

By the partial tax stamp, I place it between 1940 and 1964, but after that things get fuzzy. The "Keep Your Kem Cards CLEAN" card mirrors the text and format of the earliest KEM Playing Cards, Inc. decks from 1935-1937 (see last pic), but they changed the format a bit and squeezed in Brown & Bigelow Remembrance Advertising on the bottom. Also uses the "KEM Playing Cards, Inc." company name in the copyright, but that name was not in use after 1937. I am sorely tempted to open it up and check the Ace of Spades to get the date of the deck. My guess is early 40s.

Anyone have any theories about this deck and how KEM and Brown & Bigelow would have been working together?

Curiosity got the better of me, so I went ahead and opened the deck. Given that the cards were a bit out of order, I'm guessing I was not the first to open it.

The Ace was no help, since it has no date, but it is the first KEM Ace i've seen with Brown & Bigelow stamped on it. The deck also has considerable red ink transfer and bleed - you can see how the red ink bled through on the King of Spades.

As far as I know, the red ink bleed was only as issue on the earliest KEM decks. And as Don Boyer pointed out over at The Playing Card Forum, companies like to be sure their correct name is on the decks. So the KEM PLAYING CARDS, Inc. would signal between 1935 and 1937 which is consistent with the ink bleed.

The decks with no date codes are 1935-36. Two and weird three digit codes are 1936-1939 in MMY (last digit of the year, preceded by one month digit except for 10=October, 11=November & 12=December. In January 1940, they started using a "normal" MYY three digit code for January through September or MMYY four digit code for October to December decks. I have seen a few 36 & 37 decks with single and two digit codes that I have no clue what they mean, and a few that just make no sense and don't fit this pattern at all, some with a single letter instead of all numeric.

I've been running out of pre-WWII KEMs to collect, so I'm dabbling in other decks. Here's a great condition double deck set of Eagle 5 bridge cards sealed with tax stamps, circa 1939. Check out those awesome eagles.

I also picked up a set of the miniature cadets, c.1920 (I think).

I was able to pick up a few more 1st generation KEM Neillite card boxes - Seascape and two versions of Cameo.

Also picked up these DALE plastic playing cards at the local antique mall. Never heard of them before. These are from late-50s, early-60s.

Thanks for all of the info on KEM decks.

That's also a really nice find on the Eagle set!