Dondorf Hundertjahrkarte restoration, uncut sheets available

[ecNate]

They will be fulfilled around the first week of the new year - by me, not Lotrek.

Great news overall, I've been closely monitoring this thread for updates. Thanks!

However, what does this mean for the uncuts? Are they be shipped out early next year as well, or perhaps earlier/later?

[Mike Ratledge]

Uncuts will arrive in Greece at the same time as the decks. Lotrek is already working on the tucks.

I don't know for sure, but I assume that you will be getting thrm along with the deck sets.

[theCapraAegagrus]

I know it was considered, and discussed, that the orange deck would also be gilded (using a cheaper technique). Was it decided that the orange deck would not be gilded at all?

[Mike Ratledge]

I know it was considered, and discussed, that the orange deck would also be gilded (using a cheaper technique). Was it decided that the orange deck would not be gilded at all?

The costs on these went crazy over budget, before they added a 21% Value Added Tax to the bill (which was never discussed before it was billed). We figured since they were made in Europe for delivery in Europe - they would not be taced, but apparently American logic on taxation doesn't work.

We are lucky the gold back decks were already gilded. The orange tone ones were meant to be used, so no gilding for them. We might have talked about it early on, but I don't remember ever thinking it would happen. Darned things are barely profitable at all after marking up printing more than 20%

[Bradius]

Yeah, but look what a service you are doing for the card playing and collecting community! And helping the EU with their expenses.

[Bruno]

.... Huge Service ....

Thanks Mike.
O, and th'hired help too .... cheers for that.

[theCapraAegagrus]

I know it was considered, and discussed, that the orange deck would also be gilded (using a cheaper technique). Was it decided that the orange deck would not be gilded at all?

The costs on these went crazy over budget, before they added a 21% Value Added Tax to the bill (which was never discussed before it was billed). We figured since they were made in Europe for delivery in Europe - they would not be taced, but apparently American logic on taxation doesn't work.

We are lucky the gold back decks were already gilded. The orange tone ones were meant to be used, so no gilding for them. We might have talked about it early on, but I don't remember ever thinking it would happen. Darned things are barely profitable at all after marking up printing more than 20%

Not a problem, Mike.

I haven't been following this restoration at every turn, so I just wanted to confirm that.

[pablo19]

When are we to expect these??? I thought they would be done before way ahead of schedule??

[Mike Ratledge]

When are we to expect these??? I thought they would be done before way ahead of schedule??

We had to have them reprinted due to a problem with the way the gold metallic ink was done in the first print run, and the second set arrived at Lotrek's studio in Athens about a week ago.

He is working on the hand-crafted dual tuck restoration and they should be shipping soon.

The delays were well documented in the previous two updates from Kickstarter, although if you bought them on UCdecksales I might not have kept everyone here 100% informed, although looking back at this thread, it seems that I caught things up a week behind both updates (#9 & #10, I think) from KS.

[ecNate]

Uncuts will arrive in Greece at the same time as the decks. Lotrek is already working on the tucks.

I don't know for sure, but I assume that you will be getting thrm along with the deck sets.

So all uncuts will ship from Greece? Was Lotrek signing those? Just seems odd they are sent there otherwise.

[Mike Ratledge]

Uncuts will arrive in Greece at the same time as the decks. Lotrek is already working on the tucks.

I don't know for sure, but I assume that you will be getting thrm along with the deck sets.

So all uncuts will ship from Greece? Was Lotrek signing those? Just seems odd they are sent there otherwise.

Cartamundi is based in Turnhout (Belgium), so yes - everything went to Athens where Lotrek's studio is located.

Is he signing them? I feel sure that he would consider autographing them if you asked, although again - that's not for me to commit.

[Mike Ratledge]

Quoting the update on Kickstarter for those of you who bought these on UCdecksales:

"Shipping and fulfillment for the Dondorf Hundertjahrkarte restoration project is eminent!

Lotrek let me know yesterday that he was going to be ready to go here shortly, so I am truly excited and happy to announce that after chasing this project and dream for more than two years, these awesome decks are nearly ready to ship!

Kickstarter backers will have priority, but we will endeavor to match any duplicates for orders made on UCdecksales with KS orders.

I will let Lotrek post pictures when he is happy with the tuck boxes, but I expect that they will be almost indistinguishable from the original presentation sets given to customers during Bernhard Dondorf Co Centennial Jubilee in 1933.

To be honest, the quality of the decks is superior in my mind, but I will let you be the judge. These truly awesome decks were lovingly restored by Lotrek with such accuracy that he discovered a hidden "Easter egg" in the deck that had remained hidden for over 80 years.

[Mike Ratledge]

Always happy when I can announce that shipping is eminent:

Lotrek will begin fulfilling these Dondorf Hundertjahrkarte restoration project deck sets from his studio in Athens Greece this coming Tuesday (12 February).

[Gonzalo]

Awesome news! What about the uncuts?

[Mike Ratledge]

Awesome news! What about the uncuts?

If you ordered both they will come together. Singles will be done as soon as possible, but KS pledges have priority.

[Gonzalo]

Awesome news! What about the uncuts?

If you ordered both they will come together. Singles will be done as soon as possible, but KS pledges have priority.

OK, understood.
I bought just the uncut here on UC.

Thank you for answering.

[Mike Ratledge]

Proof of amazing in pictures - by Lotrek:

I am honored to announce that the Dondorf Centennial Jubilee restoration project will begin fulfillment on this coming Tuesday, the 12th of February after several unavoidable delays.

These awesome decks, printed by Cartamundi in Turnhout and authorized by management of both Cartamundi and Altenburg und Stralsunder Spielkartenfabrik GmBH in Altenburg are ready to be distributed worldwide by Lotrek from his studio in Athens Greece.

Restored dual deck tuck box exterior

The gilded 1933 edition reimagined by Lotrek

Details of the hand made dual tuck boxes with gold "buckle" logo / emblem

Dondorf buckle closeup-2.JPG (372.03 KiB) Viewed 2939 times

[shermjack]

Great Job, Lotrek, Mike and Cartamundi! Those look amazing! Can’t wait to get them in my hands!

[Mike Ratledge]

Great Job, Lotrek, Mike and Cartamundi! Those look amazing! Can’t wait to get them in my hands!

It had been a dream of mine for years to be able to recreate these awesome decks that essentially were never available for sale. Like a couple of the USPCC special edition decks, the original edition of 1933 was only given out to customers by B Dondorf company at their Centennial Jubilee dinner in early 1933.

I finally found the right door to knock on when a friend in Europe pointed me to the A. S. S. company in Altenburg Germany and noted that they still owned the rights to reproduce them, even though technically Cartamundi owns them now, and at this point they own several other companies like the French company (B P) Grimaud.

I hope to be able to follow up with another truly rare, beautiful deck from the 1880's. We'll see! My advocates at Cartamundi HQ in Turnhout and at Altenburg und Stralsunder Spielkartenfabrik GmBH in Germany are good, proven enthusiasts.

[Cbkimble]

Very much my forward to this deck. I hope it's waiting for me when I get home next week.

[Mike Ratledge]

Very much my forward to this deck. I hope it's waiting for me when I get home next week.

Shipping from Greece is fairly quick, but I am not thinking it is quite that quick. I expect packages to be able to make it to the US in around two weeks, making likely first site closer to the 27th or 1st of March, since there are only 28 days - for anything other than major cities like NYC, LA, etc. Hard to say exactly, but I would hope that we will be able to handle them by then. The decks are very good feeling in-hand, even the gilded ones.

We'll see!

[Bruno]

Mike wrote ....

I hope to be able to follow up with another truly rare, beautiful deck from the 1880's. We'll see!

Please do this, Mike ....

[Mike Ratledge]

Mike wrote ....

I hope to be able to follow up with another truly rare, beautiful deck from the 1880's. We'll see!

Please do this, Mike ....

I have not made a secret of wanting to do something like the OG Orient Express deck, but I have no concrete plans - yet.

I will say that I am already working on this particular deck, and reading between the lines, Grimaud printed them and owns the rights. I do recall sending out a message to a French sounding name recently.

$_3.JPG(13).jpg (83.06 KiB) Viewed 3631 times

Maybe not the best examples, but I grabbed these from WoPC.

[Smocito]

Mike,

The OG Orient Express is composed of two decks? One with the faces of the upper picture and the other with the faces of the lower picture?
I like them both, but the lower ones really look amazing.

I would also like to see a Mémoires de Casanova reconstruction.
http://www.wopc.co.uk/france/philibert/casanova

I saw in other post, that a while back, a group of UC members bought some Vladislav Erko playing cards, can you tell me where they were bought?

Thanks

[Mike Ratledge]

Mike,

The OG Orient Express is composed of two decks? One with the faces of the upper picture and the other with the faces of the lower picture?
I like them both, but the lower ones really look amazing.

I would also like to see a Mémoires de Casanova reconstruction.
http://www.wopc.co.uk/france/philibert/casanova

I saw in other post, that a while back, a group of UC members bought some Vladislav Erko playing cards, can you tell me where they were bought?

Thanks

There are several truly great candidates for restoration, but I got authorization to do the OG Orient Express overnight, so that looks like a "go".

The Vladislav Erko decks were me getting them from a source in Russia for the troops here. I remember that we ended up with sets of the three he had already made at that point and the cost was about $100 delivered for the group.

You might try looking for them at the 4 Kings site in Russia? Not sure if they are still fairly easily available, but I just had roughly 30 decks total shipped to me directly from Ukraine and then parcelled them out to the ten or so interested parties here at the time.

Actually the site (4kings.ru) no longer exists, so I don't have anything worth relating except for maybe look for a Russian or Ukrainian website that caters to playing cards.

[Smocito]

Thank you.

One fellow member has already messaged me indicating an ebay vendor.
Congratulations on the restoration clearance. Those are great news to everybody who loves cards.

[Jock1971]

I got authorization to do the OG Orient Express overnight

Great News Mike.
i presume it`s the Cartes Iniennes deck you have the go ahead for
Will you be doing the original 1890`s pack with no numbers or the 1986 Venise-Simplon Orient Express deck with numbers
Either way i`ll be in..Looking forward to my Hindertjahrkarte pack
jase

[Mike Ratledge]

I got authorization to do the OG Orient Express overnight

Great News Mike.
i presume it`s the Cartes Iniennes deck you have the go ahead for
Will you be doing the original 1890`s pack with no numbers or the 1986 Venise-Simplon Orient Express deck with numbers
Either way i`ll be in..Looking forward to my Hindertjahrkarte pack
jase

I'd love to get the OG tucks done, but I don't know that I've ever seen one other than pictures. If you have a good source for the original tuck, I'd _LOVE_ to see it, since we depend on having the best graphics to work from.

The Hundertjahrekarte was done from scans of the OG / 1933 edition by a German collector that's a friend of Gerd Mathes of A.S.S. / now part of Cartamundi. We foundt he tucks and inserts and things by brute force, looking around the 'net everywhere we could until we were certain that we had seen everything. Actually we found one part that Gerd had never seen, and translated it from German to English (actually, I had him do it, since it was truly over-zealous "Third Reich" political stuff, and the direct translation didn't make a lot of sense).

A few things many might have never noticed: the tax stamp from 1933 says "2d Reich" because they hadn't had time to update them yet in early 1933. The models for the Boers / Bauers ("Jacks" in English, 'farmer' in German - curiously, that's actually Zud-Afrik or Dutch based, not truly German - some say it should be "Bube" = 'boy') are all the same person, but unless you really look at the finished artwork Lotrek did, you likely would not notice. Same for the "D" indices. All twelve "face" / court cards have two extra people, one side is a 'worker', other side is a mercant or soldier, except for the Boer of Kreuz.

Anyway, details, details: I would like to be certain that we don't miss any (details)! Anything that you might be able to show or direct us to would be great!

[Räpylätassu]

Mike if you do restore the OG Orient Express Deck, I will literally piss honey.

One of the most beautiful decks ever designed.

[Mike Ratledge]

Thanks, guys! I tried to listen to the people that are collecting this time, even though I truly think that the Hundertjahrkarte was the right pick for the first time, some people just don't particularly care about or for it.

The most popular deck - by far - people mentioned when I asked about what we might do next was the OG Orient Express decks. I agree with everyone that it is a gorgeous deck, again way outside the ability and cost range for 99.9% of collectors. The Dondorf Centennial Jubilee deck set is unobtainable for all practical purposes, but Orient Express is equally "unobtainium" at this point.