A. Dougherty Playing Card Joker Die Proof ABNCo. + playing card

One joker die proof on india circa 1872 + actual playing card. “The Little Joker”, Jack in the Box. Engraved for the American Bank Note Company by G. Verbeck. Finished May 8, 1872. Proved on June 5, 1872. Artist: J. D. Smillie.

The Triplicate No.18 deck was the first of its kind. Andrew Dougherty was granted a U.S. Patent for the Triplicate feature which was a miniature card placed in the top left and bottom right corners. It was a revolution in the way cards could be held and viewed. The decorative ace of spades and the wrapper for the first No.18 Triplicate deck showed a fanned hand of cards with the triplicate miniature indices viewable on each card.

Andrew Dougherty was born in Donegal in Northern Ireland in 1827. He started his playing card business in New York in 1848.  Dougherty’s story is a key part of the development of the American playing card industry as he can be credited with several innovations to playing cards. In 1849 he moved to a new address at Cliff Street, New York, and for a short time entered into partnership with two brothers named Coughtry. Coughtry & Dougherty stayed in business until c.1853. Dougherty soon prospered on his own, changing his address several times as he moved into better premises. Dougherty died in 1905 at the age of 78 and his sons continued to run the business in New York until 1907 when the United States Playing Card Company purchased it. USPCC kept the Dougherty business operating independently until 1930 when it was combined with the New York Consolidated Company to form Consolidated-Dougherty Card Co. Inc., a division of USPCC.

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