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As an importer, wholesaler and distributor of fine wines, Lionstone International was an unlikely candidate to be the exclusive distributor of the now infamous Iraqi Most Wanted 55-card playing deck.
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But some quick thinking last month translated into a windfall for the Lake Forest business. Lionstone has been in the wine and spirits business since 1989, but right now the portion of its 35,000-square-foot warehouse that houses alcohol is eerily quiet, while workers on the other side work overtime to frantically fill orders for cards.

On April 3, Lionstone started greatUSAflags.com, a Web site devoted to selling patriotic items. Nine days later it scored exclusive rights to distribute the Iraqi Most Wanted deck, which is printed by United States Playing Card Co. in Cincinnati.

In the first week alone, the site sold approximately 750,000 decks, which go for $5.95 apiece, or $19.95 for a pack of four. Sales so far are well in excess of 1 million.

"This is not any well-planned out marketing coup. This was us moving quickly and doing the best you can to provide the service to go with it," said Lionstone President Nick Lucca. "For us, it's the kind of story you read about others doing and we're getting to live it."

When the Pentagon printed and distributed the original 200 decks of Iraqi Most Wanted cards, it included U.S. Playing Card's trademarked red-and-yellow Hoyle joker logo.

As a result, U.S. Playing Card became the only company that could manufacture an authentic reproduction of the deck.

Lionstone had contacted a company in Texas to set up a partnership to print and distribute the cards, which Lucca had seen on television "just like every other consumer had."

But the company could not produce the deck because it did not have the rights to the Hoyle joker, so Lionstone contacted U.S. Playing Card.

"We asked them if we could be the exclusive distributor," Lucca said.

"They happened to like us, we liked them and they were getting a lot of inquires about the cards. We made a commitment to them to buy a large number of cards, so they gave us the exclusive. We were the quickest to U.S. Playing Card and obviously we made the best impression on them."

George White, U.S. Playing Card vice president of marketing, said the company was impressed by the firm's ability to accept and ship a high volume of orders and "run a vibrant Web site in an evolving environment."

Other people have produced the cards, Lucca said. "The 52 Iraqi pictures are public domain, so we don't have any more exclusive right to that than anybody. But anybody that wants the completed deck identical to what the government originally printed can only get it through us. And that's because of the Hoyle joker."

Moving quickly, Lionstone spent more than $3 million for advertising, and added 12 additional computerized work stations and eight new phone lines to handle the response.

Every employee has been working overtime, and the company has hired temporary staff.

At one point, greatUSAflags was getting 85 new orders per minute from more than 40 countries, including France.

According to Lucca, in four weeks Lionstone has earned what it usually would in six months.

How did a wine distributor decide to sell patriotic items in the first place?

Before the Gulf War started, a corkscrew provider sent it a flag decorated with logos of all the branches of military service.

Lucca, whose father landed at Normandy, France, in World War II, and his partners had several relatives that had served in the military. They decided to launch greatUSAflags, at first more as a gesture than for massive sales. That changed with the "Iraqi Most Wanted" deal.

Lucca said he understands the torrid pace of sales will run out of steam at some point. So the firm's adding other items, starting with a Memorial Day package and a Father's Day package, to keep the momentum going.

"We're going to continue to do things with flags and patriotic items," he said. "We certainly don't expect the response that we've had in the first four weeks, but we definitely think there's a business here."

Copyright © 2003. Chicago Daily Herald.