I recently went to Idaho for a family matter. At the end of the trip, I went to a sizable antiques mall in Boise. I'm sure Gale C knows the place I mean. I went through the entire place and found nothing. I usually find at least a few overpriced ashtrays and questionably priced chips, sometimes some real finds. At the end, I found two old decks of cards from the Reno/Tahoe area. These are both from the late 70's-early 1980's and still have the card backs printed on the boxes. The first is from Caesars Tahoe. The box shows it was used in April 1981, but the code on the ace of spades, according to the USPC date chart, suggests they were manufactured in 1980 (the meaning of the blue "A"). And, apparently, Caesars Tahoe once went by the name Caesars Palace Tahoe:

It even has a witty back of the box. You don't see that anymore:

That deck is not on the Chip Guide yet, but I intend to add it soon. The other deck is on the Chip Guide, but it's a nice one, an early Reno, Sands deck:

According to the blue "Y," this deck was made in 1978.

Michael Siskin