My earliest U.S. Games is the IJJ Swiss with Fulgour's attached directions
1. and the 120 Wall Street Address.
The box says on the bottom of the red lid: Tarot Cards IJJ AG Mueller-CIE, Nuehausen and Rheinfall Switzerland.
The top of the red lid has a stamp "Made in Switzerland" and the red border surrounds a yellow-mustard colored insert and the text is "Distributed by U.S. Games Systems, Inc., New York, N.Y.
2. While I seem to have misplaced one of my Accurate Tones yellow-boxed copyright 1971 Rider Waite from U.S. Games, I seem to recall my post said it didn't have a copyright on the cards. I'll check if I have a link that wrote out all the publishing information.
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http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=16107&highlight=sybil+waite
Turns out...
There are two editions of the 1971 Rider Waite...on Holly Volley's tarot site, the one in the middle has a newer typeface. In that one, the instruction book is coated, the lamination on the deck is smooth and the address for U.S. Games is the their Stamford, CT office.
There are some delicate differences in the earlier 1971 printing, which I discovered last night and today in comparing a used bookstore find and the older one that I am keeping.
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The earlier 1971 version with the following details:
1) There is no ISBN number stamped on the bottom of the box. The text is essentially the same, but an added bullet of Accurate Color Tones is on the bottom flap.
2) The office address for the U.S. Games is New York, NY 10016.
3) The little white book does not have coating on the 44 pages.
4) There is no copyright notice on the sides of the cards. The copyright was pending while this edition was distributed.
5) While the box cover might have a bit of variation, the cards themselves are uniformly lighter in tone and the gray background area where the majors are typed are lighter than the later 1971
version and later yellow box versions that I see in stores.
6) The finish seems lighter, more of a matte feel than a laminated smoothness. I think this deck might be a little more worn, althought the colors seem fairly smooth and no chipping in the finish or corners.
All in all, I like the feel and using the earlier 1971 version...seems like this is an older deck and so it doesn't feel as plastic as newer, slicker versions--like my giant RWS that I use sometimes to compare bigger deck cards...
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3. The only other different yellow-boxed Accurate Tones yellow-boxed 1971 Rider Waite I have was distributed by Weiser and the information follows--and this set also does not have a copyright on the cards.
Here is the Weiser distributed deck information:
U.S. Games Systems, Inc., 468 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 10016, copyright 1971 by U.S. Games Systems, Inc, NY 10016.
I'm sorry, there's many family events happening this week and I'll not be able to unearth any other boxes for awhile. These two happened to be in the storage closet with some linens for guests, so I was able to pull it out...
If you do have questions on boxes, copyright notices, etc....please pm me and if I have something, I'll post back. I've seem to have narrowed what I have to older titles and some fairly new ones in terms of U.S. titles...
Hope this helps,
Cerulean