1864 Saladee's Patent Restoration Playing Cards

For over 500 years people used playing cards without indices in the corners. Then on February 9, 1864 Cyrus W. Saladee was issued a United States Patent, No. 41,587 to print numbers, suit symbols, letters, and miniature playing cards in the corner of a playing card. The patent was purchased by Samuel Hart and he put Saladee's name on the deck and Ace of Spades. The rare piece of history is known as the Saladee's Patent Deck. Others eventually started to print indices, as we see in the Squeezers and Triplicates which began production 12 years later in 1876.