An original, vintage Can You Pass The Acid Test? card which dates to the era of 1965-1966.

It is not known how many copies were printed of this Intrepid Trips wallet card. But since it was so small and easy to stow away for decades, perhaps a good percentage of them are still around. We can only hope.

One thing’s for certain: You can be sure a lot of hip, local scenesters had fun with their Merry Pranksters wallet card around the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco in the mid-’60s, maybe even producing this thing from their wallet (or purse) when they were “carded” by the establishment.

Although it would have looked even cooler if some psychedelic colors were present, this Acid Test wallet card was printed in conventional black & white, on the cheap.

It was then up to the card-carrier to fill in the back of their Intrepid Trips card, and then adorn their signature to make it official.

It’s been shown that a lot of Pranksters and the new hippie crowd would fill out the back of their Acid Test ID card with humor being their first priority. For example, “I was born” could be filled in with “yes” or “naked & screaming,” or they’d enter in “have two eyes”… stilly stuff like that.

And to top it all off, the card holder would hopefully attach a photo of themselves over the square on the back of their Merry Pranksters card. I imagine a common source of such photos in the mid-sixties were those two-bit B&W photo booths, which gave you a small strip of four pictures.

As you can see, this Intrepid Trips ID card depicts none other than Uncle Sam on the front, as a satirical take-off on the U.S. Army’s recruiting campaign that young people were only too aware of.

You can probably tell in my video, but the dimensions of this Merry Pranksters ID card are the same as a standard business card.

One last thought: Wouldn’t it be awesome to locate the original Acid Test membership card from people like head Prankster Ken Kesey, the Dead’s Jerry Garcia, important Prankster Ken Babbs, Wavy Gravy, Allen Ginsberg or any of the other early participants who made a name for themselves?

The complete wording on this Intrepid Trips membership card, exactly as it reads:

(front of card)

Can YOU Pass The Acid Test? (next to rendition of Uncle Sam)

(back of card)

My Name is _______

I live at ______

I was born _______

I am __________ tall,

have ______ eyes,

_____ hair,

and weigh __________

I am a member of INTREPID TRIPS, INC. and am doing nothing.

____________

Signature

(and then, in the box) PASTE PHOTO HERE

This authentic, genuine item of San Francisco psychedelic music-history memorabilia is displayed and lectured upon by collector Peter Howard (805.540-0020, or, pete@postercentral.com). I will pay TOP DOLLAR for one of these original cards, or any items of vintage Acid Test material from 1965-66.

To see more artifacts of San Francisco’s psychedelic era, primarily concert posters, just trip over to this page right here on my Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/psychedelic.htm