The "Hey, look what I added to my collection!" thread

[dazzleguts]

I'm thinking of starting a topic just to discuss transformation and semi-transformation playing cards. Any interest?

That would be interesting, and useful, especially if we started a listing of all transformation decks currently out there.

Your Tuscany deck was distributed by Cavallini & Co. but did you know they were made by "il Meneghello" - Osvaldo Menegazzi of Italy? He reproduced this deck from an original one in his collection, as well as many other facsimile decks he has done. The wax seal is a shield with his initials on it. You can read more about him here:
http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Osvaldo_Menegazzi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"

He made the Carte Toscane facsimile I have, in 1996, and it is in a book cover/card clip style "box" that ties at the side with ribbon. It was a limited edition of 1000 and mine is #800. Except for the box and cover card the Carte Toscane and Cavallini are pretty much identical. I have the Cavallini one as well.

[RSLancastr]

He made the Carte Toscane facsimile I have in 1996 and it is in a book cover/card clip style "box" that ties at the side with ribbon. It was a limited edition of 1000 and mine is #800. I was a bit disappointed to see he had printed them up again, outside of the edition, for Cavallini. Except for the box and cover card the decks are pretty much identical. I have the Cavallini one as well.

I wasn't sure which edition I had (purchased in 1997 or so), so I read what I had written about it in the "Transformation Decks" display on my old web site.

Here are the cards I displayed:




Here is what I wrote abouut them:

BLGUPC Presents:
TRANSFORMATION DECKS
First in a series of exhibits depicting different categories of playing card decks

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Exhibit

Transformation cards are among the most beautiful and intriguing types of playing cards, and are undoubtedly the most difficult to design.

In a transformation deck, the artist transforms the suit signs (hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades) of each card into a picture.

First appearing around 1800, transformation decks have been intriguing and challenging artists ever since.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Cards on Display

Much of the information below is from the book Transformation Playing Cards by Albert Field (U. S. Games Systems, Inc., 1987). An excellent source of reading on the subject, the book describes and displays cards from nearly every transformation deck printed between 1800 and 1987.

Card 1 - Teddy bears of all shapes, sizes and colors can be found in Peter Wood's Teddy Bear Pack of Playing Cards, a whimsical, brightly colored pack published in 1996 by Andrew Jones Art.

Card 2 - Originally printed in 1805 by publisher and bookseller J. C. Cotta, the Jeanne d'Arc pack was designed by Grafin Charlotta von Jennison-Walworth. The Gallery's copy is from a 1973 reproduction, sold as Antique Playing Cards by Merrimack Publishing. The original had no indices (the suit-signs and values in the corners), as this innovation was not a common practice until the 1880's.

Card 3 - An erotic deck with interesting, non-standard courts, the Emanuelle deck, created by French artist Patrick Cuenol, was published in the 1980's by InterCol London. The card displayed here makes good use of "negative space" (where the suit signs are created by the space between objects and people in the picture rather than being objects themselves), and is probably the least provocative card in the deck...

Card 4 - Tony Meeuwissen's The Key to the Kingdom - An Enchanted Deck, a deck with a companion book published in 1992 by Running Press, is a joy to behold. Each card in the deck is inspired by a different children's verse (the card on display here illustrates "Three Blind Mice"). Both the cards and the verses can be found in the companion book. Purists would argue that this is not a "true" transformation deck, since the artist took liberties with the placement of the suit-signs within the illustration. Whether transformation or pseudo-transformation, it is a gorgeous deck, with many memorable images.

Card 5 - Art for the Earth Playing Cards, published in 1995 by Friends of the Earth and Andrew Jones Art, is a notable deck for many reasons. A transformation deck with a predominantly rainforest theme, each card in it was designed by a different artist (the one on display here by Nicola Bayley). Royalties from sales of the deck go to Friends of the Earth, and are used in their efforts to "protect and sustain the world's fast disappearing tropical rainforests." Also of note is the fact that the deck is believed to be the first deck in the world to be printed on 100% recycled card.

Card 6 - Almanac, designed by Italian artist Adolfo Matarelli in 1855 through 1859, is a gorgeous deck. The Gallery's copy is from Toscana, a 1996 reproduction of the pack by Cavallini & Company. Note again the use of negative space.

So, I have the Cavallini.

By the way: You mention a "Cover card". Is that what is also known as a "Title Card" - shows the name of the deck and, sometimes, the name(s) of the artist & Designer? (similar to the Title Page of a book)?

[badpete69]

Got a few of my cheap Piatnik deck purchases from the past week tonight

A red and blue set of Russian decks. These decks are sealed inside the tuck box

A 2 deck set of Shakespeare Piatnik cards. Picked them up on Ebay at half the price they sell them on Amazon. Using a couple extra stock pics to show what the cards look like

[badpete69]

Also just purchased a vintage 1920 deck tonight. Here are some pics. can't wait to get it in hands. The box looks amazing. The decks are still sealed although not in mint condition but very nice

[RandyButterfield]

Also just purchased a vintage 1920 deck tonight. Here are some pics. can't wait to get it in hands. The box looks amazing. The decks are still sealed although not in mint condition but very nice

Wow! That box is sweet. The box alone could serve as great inspiration for it's own custom Deck!

Thanks, Randy

[RSLancastr]

Got a few of my cheap Piatnik deck purchases from the past week tonight

A red and blue set of Russian decks. These decks are sealed inside the tuck box

A 2 deck set of Shakespeare Piatnik cards. Picked them up on Ebay at half the price they sell them on Amazon. Using a couple extra stock pics to show what the cards look like

And of course, the Red Rose on those cards is the Rose of Lancaster!

[darkinertia]

@RSLancastr wow i dont know HOW i missed all those decks haha...snorlax is pretty badass though, basically if hes hungry he just wrecks his opponent, but once hes full, he goes right to sleep lol




i got my order in today and wow im impressed! the guy even through in the massa deck, which ive been wanting to get them for a while! very very good prices too, the archangels and JAQKs came together 17 bucks free shipping, and for the 2 bee stinger casino decks it was only like 6 for both and theyre uncancelled. im totally giving him a recommendation as a good seller, hes really fast, great packaging, free bonus decks, and he even through in 2 cut cards haha. talk about going above and beyond jeez

http://myworld.ebay.com/mystiquelook_ag ... 1423.l2754" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dazzleguts]

@RSLancastr
Yes the cover card is also called the title card, or, in an older book term, the colophon. I have seen people also call them explanatory cards.

Your JC Cotta has also been reproduced by F.G. & Co. as "The Maid of Orleans", and by the Fournier Museum as "Transformation Playing Cards, Germany". These editions did not add the indices. The FG & Co is sharper looking than the Fournier and has square corners like the original cards would have had, but they are also a bit smaller and have the FG logo backs which they put on all their cards. I think Fournier tried to make all their facsimile decks the same size as the originals.


@darkinertia
That is a really good deal you got there. Was your Massa printed well. Mine came looking like it already had wear rub to the ink.

[Strag]

Strag, where did you find the "Art for the Earth" Deck?
I've been looking for it. ... for less than 30 USD.

You can find it here for £20 (which is slightly more than $32 at current exchange rates) plus shipping of course (£4.50 to ROW).

http://www.gamesetal.net/tro.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Strag]

Also just purchased a vintage 1920 deck tonight. Here are some pics. can't wait to get it in hands. The box looks amazing. The decks are still sealed although not in mint condition but very nice

Wow! That box is sweet. The box alone could serve as great inspiration for it's own custom Deck!

Thanks, Randy

Idea for your next deck perhaps Randy?

[RSLancastr]

@RSLancastr wow i dont know HOW i missed all those decks haha...snorlax is pretty badass though, basically if hes hungry he just wrecks his opponent, but once hes full, he goes right to sleep lol

Well, as long as he's badass, I guess it's okay that he reminded my kids of me.

[RSLancastr]

==========[ LOST? & FOUND! ]==========

These fall under "Look what I recently RE-added to my collection", but I'll post them here.

==========[ LOST? ]==========

Several months ago, I went to look for one of my Bikes, but could not find it.

This bugged me, as I thought I had them all in the same drawer.

Later, when I had finally bought the third Dragon-back deck, I could not find the other two in that drawer!

Puzzled, I took the list I had of all the Bikes I'd bought, and started comparing it with the Bikes in that drawer, and wsas distressed to discover that, out of around 120 decks, I was missng around twenty!

I knew that I'd had them, since I had scanned them for my grid of scanned decks, and still had the scans, but - where were the decks?

I emptied the three drawers in that dresser (a nightstand-sized one I keep under my desk):

The top drawer had those 100 Bikes.

The middle drawer had another 100 or so poker-sized non-Bikes I've acquired over the past two years or so.

The bottom drawer had a bunch of non-poker-sized decks (Minis, oversized, etc) and poker-sized decks in larger boxed (double-deck sets, presentation boxes, etc),

...but the Missing Bikes were not there!

I looked all over my desk (difficult from my wheelchair) - in its cubby holes and such - no luck!

I wasn't too worried - I knew they had to be somewhere around my desk, as I had never taken them anywhere else, but it bugged me.

I gave up looking for them, figuring they would turn up some day.

==========[ FOUND! ]==========

That "some day" was yesterday!

Looking for someplace to put a few recently-acquired decks, I caught a glimpse of those two Dragon-back Bikes in a plastic box sitting atop that dresser under my desk. It was difficult to see, as it was in the narrow space between the top of that dresser and the underside of my desk (which is a sort of table with a small hutch atop it).

I pulled that box out, and found around twenty Bikes in it!

I haven't confirmed that they are the twenty missing ones, but I know that at least some of them are - those Dragon-backs (Blue and Gold), both Robocycles (Black and Blue), the Fashion decks (Blue, Green, Lavender, Pink and Berry).

Now I just need to dig out the BCW boxes with those other 100 Bikes (again, difficult from my wheelchair), put these twenty with their brethren, and compare the whole clan with my list of Bikes to make sure there are no more missing ones left to find.

...and then heave a big sigh of relief!

Here's a picture of the found Bikes, along with some recently-acquired non-Bikes:



And here are the scans of some of them:

==========[ Bicycle_Faded_Cream&Aqua ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_Karnival_Assassins ]==========

==========[ ==========[ Bicycle_Karnival_Renegades ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_Karnival_Dose ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_Karnival_DeadEyes ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_AnneStokesCollection_V1

==========[ Bicycle_Target_Flirtatious ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Target_Rejuvenate ]==========



==========[ Bicycle_Faded_Blue ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_Faded_Red ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_Fashion_Berry ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_Fashion_Berry (dupe) ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_Fashion_Blue ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_Fashion_Green ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_Fashion_Pink ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_Fashion_Pink (dupe) ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_Fashion_Purple ]==========

==========[ Hoyle_Fashion_Pink ]==========

==========[ Bicycle_Robocycle_Black ]==========[/size


==========[ Bicycle_Robocycle_Blue ]==========[/size

[RSLancastr]

My latest acquisition, n eBay purchase:

==========[ Mini Bikes! ]==========


Sorry for the crappy camera phone pic.

I got a dozen miniature RiderBack decks (6 Blue, 6 Red).

I posed them with two poker-sized decks (Faded Blue & Faded Red) for comparison purposes.

As (I hope) you can see, the Mini cards are the size of a poker-sized card cut in half, then the halves turned sideways.

Here are scans which should make that a bit clearer, with a poker-sized card (Faded Blue) and two mini-sized cards:

Face:


Back:


NOTE: I used the "Faded" 808s in the above pic and scans because they were the closest-to-hand RiderBacks I could find.

I've only opened and scanned one of the decks so far, but it seems to be identical to the Poker-sized, 808 decks, except:

* the Joker is riding his Bicycle past a marker stone with "404" on it instead of "808"! (Because they are half the size of an 808 - get it?) (This makes me wonder: "Giant-sized" RiderBacks are four times the size of Poker-sized 808s (twice as tall and twice as wide). Are they "3232s"? I have two (a Red and a Blue) on back order, so I should know in about a month or so).

* "404" is also on the top of the tuck box, where 808 decks usually say "Poker" (referring to their size).

* The minis only had one additional card - an advertising card.

* some other differences on the tuck (see the photo)

* (I assume the numbers on the Spade Aces differ, but I have yet to check)

Other than that, they seem to be shrunk-down replicas of 808 RiderBacks!

All in all, these make a fun and different addition to my Bikes collertion, and I will be adding other Mini Bikes as I can (I have seen Mini versions of the "Ghost" deck and "The Dog", as well as USPCC's "Sponge Bob Square Pants" deck. I assume there are others).

[RSLancastr]

Not in my hands yet, but look what I just bought on eBay, for a pretty good price:

CLICK TO VIEW LISTING

once it gets here it will be showing up again in my "Decks the Halls" thread!

[jmrock]

RSLancastr, you got those for a crazy price... You should feel very blessed...

[PlayingCardz]

I wanted one, well I'll get two

[RSLancastr]

RSLancastr, you got those for a crazy price... You should feel very blessed...

I know. It seems the set usually sells for $50-$100. Or am I thinking of the Santa-Back set?

[badpete69]

Also just purchased a vintage 1920 deck tonight. Here are some pics. can't wait to get it in hands. The box looks amazing. The decks are still sealed although not in mint condition but very nice

Got my box in today..It is as gorgeous as in the pics. I love it. Also got my Necronomicon decks for 4PM design they look great also

[RSLancastr]

Very nice, Pete!

Back when I used to comb throughantique malls for decks I would see similarly-carved boxes from time to time, but never purchased them, as I felt they would have taken up too much room.

[RSLancastr]

I already posted this in my "Decks the Halls" thread, but it belongs here as well:

Got two more Christmas-themed decks today:

Neither have non-standard courts, which are what I look for in a deck.

They simply have different images on the face of each card in the deck, with the images on the courts simply being "non-courtish" images like those on all of the other cards.

And these aren't even decks of the type I call "52 images of (whatever)" .

They are the poor cousin of that kind of deck, which I call "13 images of (whatever)", in which the images "repeat" in each suit (all four Aces have one image, all four Twos have another, and so on).

They aren't what I generally look for in a deck for my collection, but they fall into the "Decks with Christmas-themed Faces" which I have been picking up of late.

Here they are:

==========[ ComicalChristmas ]==========

Published by Hampton Direct, Inc.

==========[ DisneyWinnieThePoohHoliday ]==========

[Evan]

I wanted one, well I'll get two

Awesome! I'm very jealous of that.

[lel]

Didn't expect both of em to deliver on the same day, really glad they've finally arrived.

[cosmicsecret]

A lot of very interessting decks have been posted so far! Very good guys!
Yesterday, my Silver Split Spades Lions brick arrived...after being nearly 9 weeks in transit.
Must have been fallen of the assembly line at the Airport or something....it was dissapeared from the tracking trace for over 5 weeks!!! (on Dec 6th 2012 it had left the USA ...till 16th of Jan 2013 where the tracking continued being processed in german customs)
Anyways they handle great! No bad packaging like i have seen pictures of double seals but no custom brick box...just a plain white brick box from the USPCC.

1 Brick Split Spades Lions : Silver Edition

And today i framed my Curator Uncut Sheet (such a awesome Uncut sheet!)

[CBJ]

A few new decks in








CBJ

[nickbuckler]

picked some vintage ramblers up, I have been unable to find any others with this back design, any ideas on age and if this is a unusual design ?

cheers

[CBJ]

I also got these in a few weeks back









And at the same time I picked up some Chipco "Silver Dollar Casino" poker chip set for my cash games. These are from the now-closed Silver Dollar Casino, and were used on their tables. I just wish the cards were from the same Silver Dollar.





























If anyone is interested in getting some of these, here's where I got them...

http://www.chiptalk.net/forum/thechipro ... le-29.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


They also have new Paulson's at an amazing price.


CBJ

[badpete69]

I have been to the Silver Dollar casino many times...It is not too far from where I live

[BMPokerworld]

picked some vintage ramblers up, I have been unable to find any others with this back design, any ideas on age and if this is a unusual design ?

cheers

I really like these old Ramblers a lot. Great find!!!!

Thanks!

[darkinertia]

I also got these in a few weeks back





CBJ

awesome score! i havent been to that casino or even heard of it before, i have been to tukwila before and its awesome...one thing i want to try and do is get some uncancelled decks from a casino i used to go to all the time called clearwater in washington, when i lived there i spent so much time just playing slots losing money like an idiot lol loved every second of it though

thanks for the link, im going to pick up those decks now!

[Fluffykitten]

someone posted pics of a nice deck of bee cards i cant remember the name of the deck, i think they were $13 with shipping. i looked and couldnt find it i will look again though.