International Playing Card Co. -- "Texan No. 45" brand - "Palmettos"
poker-size deck • 52 cards; 1 joker; 1 "guarantee" card; 2 cards with poker ranks

These gorgeous poker-size playing cards were made by the International Playing Card Co., from Markham, Ontario, Canada. These cards are commonly refereed to as the "Palmettos" and were largely distributed in Canada. There is some mystery surrounding these cards and Jeff Busby loved them so much he wrote a 124 page book, entitled, Jeff Busby’s Secret of the Palmettos. Unfortunately the book is out of print and difficult to get. These cards are now rare and very desirable for collectors.

Following is a short excerpt from Jeff Busby's book:

As a playing card alone - even without the "Secret of the Palmettos" - the Texan is a superior card. Aside from the appeal of the elegant back design, its equal to the standard Bee diamond Back or the old Bee Worm Back for visual deception with a false deal. The finish is well-known air-cushion finish which allows the card to literally "float" over each other. They are highly flexible, so steals and palms work beautifully [referring to card manipulation techniques]. Moreover, they have a "slip", "snap", and a thin feel to them that makes turning over a double, feel like handling a feather. The cutting process is superb. All the decks I've handled required minimal or no break-in and ever deck I tested Faroed [referring to a faro shuffle] perfectly right out of the box.

(Jeff Busby, 1998)