The International Plate Printers, Die Stampers, Plate Makers, and Engravers Union (IPPDSPM&EU) originally formed from a confederation of smaller unions in 1893. Within a few years, specially engraved cards were produced for social events and conventions. The conventions soon became a showcase for the various Union affiliates, and folders with numerous cards were printed and distributed, with these sometimes bound into booklet form. Since these early cards pre-date any "official" souvenir card program, they were designated "Forerunners" (F) in the SCCS numbering system. Union cards continue to be produced up to the present, making the forerunner designation somewhat awkward, but for the sake of continuity it remains in place. Production records were not kept for many of these cards, but today early cards are all quite scarce, and even contemporary convention folders tend to have print runs in the low hundreds. Since the mid-1980s these cards usually include a small triangular union logo. The union has also printed a number of later cards for unaffiliated organizations and events other than union conventions. Archives International Auctions has graciously supplied images for most specimen examples shown here.