Card Games, Ethel Mertz, I love Lucy Props, Playing Cards

Ethel’s Bicycle Playing Cards

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In the I Love lucy episode Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying To Murder Her
which first aired on  November 5, 1951, Ethel demonstrates her fortune telling skills using her Bicycle Fan back playing cards. These had a distinctive design on the reverse that incorporates a fan and bicycle design originally issued in the 1890’s  called “The New Fan Back” as opposed to an earlier fan design.
cards bicycle-cards-canasta The fan back design is currently seen in the Canasta set available on the website HERE bicycle-cards
Vintage Sets can also be found on eBay HERE