Funny how things change: today low end unfinished furniture is pine or oak [there's an outlet store near my office] and mahogany is reserved for fine applications.
Oh, I agree that the Ideal machines were made for many years and in use even longer. The patent date stamped on the front sets a likely start date of 1925 for the all-metal Ideal machine. When they ended is impossible to say, esp. since there are no internal dating stamps or plates like you'd find on a Fender guitar [yeah, I watch Antiques Roadshow]. Something I find helpful in trying to date them is looking at the front advertising panels when they are found intact. I picked up one that had a movie panel from the late 1920s in it. The panels can be difficult to remove intact; the board can get very brittle with exposure to light and the elements. I cracked the heck out of the one I had when I took it out of the machine and I am very careful, so I have to believe it was in there from the early days. Not saying it definitively proves anything about mfg dates.
As for the nit, counter-nit acknowledged and approved!
BTW, if anyone is interested in it, I have a catalog of the full machine line. 80 pages. It is not dated but it speaks of the company's 30 years' experience and the company started in 1901, so probably ca. 1930. It has examples and illustrations of the card machines and some card sets, and lots of interesting copy about the business and machines, including release details. And a beautiful art deco cover. Unfortunately, not as precise with details as the order forms are. It lists the Ideal as a "new model" but says it is "now being constructed with much heavier sheet metal", which implies that there was an older version with lighter sheet metal. I will try to scan and post some of the pages. I don't want to wreck the booklet by cracking the spine in the scanner.
2nd BTW: I have a post-1962 order sheet [has a zip code on it, so I know it is from after they were issued] that lists the Baseball Hall of Fame set as available. Whether that means it was printed into the 1960s or just old stock I have no idea...
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