BOXES
The telescoping tuck box is a standard feature for the Congress brand. In 1881, Russell, Morgan, and Company’s inaugural brands, Tigers 101, Sportsmans 202, Army and Navy 303 and 505, and Congress 404 and 606 used a two-piece telescoping box design where an inner sleeve held the cards and an outer sleeve encompassed the inner sleeve. This was a more expensive way to pack the cards, and sometime in the late 1880s, only a few brands kept this type of box. Congress was the main brand and kept this in one form or another for the next 100+ years. Shown below are the various types of boxes used throughout the years, and we will try to be as accurate as possible with the dates of use.