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

[badpete69]

Fluffy you are probably talking about the coterie Bee deck that sells for $13

[Fluffykitten]

Fluffy you are probably talking about the coterie Bee deck that sells for $13

thank you!!! thats exactly the one!

[Sharpie]

Fluffy you are probably talking about the coterie Bee deck that sells for $13

thank you!!! thats exactly the one!

I have 'em in my thread for $14. But everything's 20% OFF for a few days. Trying to liquidate.
Come by and have a look: http://unitedcardists.com/viewtopic.php ... p=158#p158

[andrew daugherty]

On the Ramblers: Is there a code at the bottom of the ace?

The blue filigree back was a common one for Ramblers and other National brands (eventually to become part of USPC).

The very thin pip and the old-style art on the king place this deck in the 1910-1930 range.

Older National decks that still list Indianapolis on the ace of spades are good finds in any condition. The Ramblers ace has changed very little in almost 100 years.

The back turns up in blue and red among singles collectors frequently. Finding a full 52 or 52+J Ramblers deck in this design is a nice find. Enjoy them.

Andrew Daugherty

[Fluffykitten]

Fluffy you are probably talking about the coterie Bee deck that sells for $13

thank you!!! thats exactly the one!

I have 'em in my thread for $14. But everything's 20% OFF for a few days. Trying to liquidate.
Come by and have a look: http://unitedcardists.com/viewtopic.php ... p=158#p158

Oh sorry! I ordered them right away after I saw the name.

[RSLancastr]

I just put these in my "Decks The Halls" thread, but here they here as well:

Three more Christmas-themed decks.

First, the double-deck Bicycle HolidayBack set, which came in a nice tin (not shown):

==========[ Bicycle_HolidayBack_Green ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_HolidayBack_Red ]==========


==========[ NightmareBeforeChristmas_HauntedMansion ]==========

The courts are double-ended, with one end being the scary/Halloween version of the character, the other end showing him or her after their Christmas transformation.

The deck comes in a clear plastic case (pictured above), nestled inside an appropriately coffin-shaped box (below)

==========[ Box (Front) ]==========


==========[ Box (Back) ]==========

[Sharpie]

Some of my recent acquisitions.

[Sharpie]

[Sharpie]

[Frequenter]

Some of my recent acquisitions.

Got some Inky Dinkys recently! Love the idea and the execution. Have you ever seen the Symphony of Nature decks? http://www.yiyinglu.com/?portfolio=natu ... ying-cards Not even HALF as good, but based around the same idea, the elements being integrated into an aspect of each image.

[RSLancastr]

Got some Inky Dinkys recently! Love the idea and the execution. Have you ever seen the Symphony of Nature decks? http://www.yiyinglu.com/?portfolio=natu ... ying-cards Not even HALF as good, but based around the same idea, the elements being integrated into an aspect of each image.

Frequenter, that type of deck, where "the elements are integrated into an aspect of each image", is called a Transformation deck. Decks of this type have been around since around 1805, and are always fun.

Ones such as InkyDinks and Natural Symphony, where the pips are not in the locations they would be on a standard card, are more properly called "pseudo-transformation" decks.

Sorry if you already knew some or all of this.

[RSLancastr]

It all started when I found this eBay listing when searching for more Christmas-themed decks:

CLICK TO VIEW LISTING

Well, it was definitely Christmas-themed, but did it have custom faces or,better still, custom courts (which are the main focus of my collection)?

Looking at the four heads on the box, I thought that they might equate to the four suits in the deck.

If that were the case, maybe the courts of those suits were also related to those heads!

I've learned through lots of experience that buying a deck sight-unseen, based on what I hoped it might look like, given clues on the box, rarely paid off with a deck that I wanted.

But the "Buy it Now" price was only $2.75 (plus around $5 Shipping), so I decided to give it a shot, and bought it.

The deck arrived today - here are some scans:

==========[ Holiday Playing Cards ]==========

=====[ Hearts (Reindeer) ]=====


=====[ Clubs (Nutcrackers) ]=====


=====[ Diamonds (Gingerbread Men) ]=====


=====[ Spades (Snowmen) ]=====


=====[ Jokers & Deuces ]=====


=====[ Snapshot/Grid ]=====


Sure, it was probably made for kids, but I have lots of kids' decks in my collection.

I like it, and will long remember it as having been one of those rare instances when "buying a pig in a poke" had a happy ending!

[samurai007]

I just won this set of cards from Poland:

[Frequenter]

Got some Inky Dinkys recently! Love the idea and the execution. Have you ever seen the Symphony of Nature decks? http://www.yiyinglu.com/?portfolio=natu ... ying-cards Not even HALF as good, but based around the same idea, the elements being integrated into an aspect of each image.

Frequenter, that type of deck, where "the elements are integrated into an aspect of each image", is called a Transformation deck. Decks of this type have been around since around 1805, and are always fun.

Ones such as InkyDinks and Natural Symphony, where the pips are not in the locations they would be on a standard card, are more properly called "pseudo-transformation" decks.

Sorry if you already knew some or all of this.

I'd garnered a slight understanding from discussions, but I'm only just properly getting into the subsectors of collection and understanding etc. Thanks for the heads up! This will make it easier to source this style! Any interesting mentionables in your opinion?

[RSLancastr]

I just won this set of cards from Poland:

However did you get Poland to gamble with you?



Seriously though, what is the name of the deck?

Nice find, by the way!

[RSLancastr]

I'd garnered a slight understanding from discussions, but I'm only just properly getting into the subsectors of collection and understanding etc. Thanks for the heads up! This will make it easier to source this style! Any interesting mentionables in your opinion?

Lots, but let me give it some thought.

A good read on the subject would be here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transforma ... aying_card

[samurai007]

I just won this set of cards from Poland:

However did you get Poland to gamble with you?



Seriously though, what is the name of the deck?

Nice find, by the way!

Not sure what the name is yet, the listing just said "Beautiful deck of Polish playing cards", but here is the seller: http://myworld.ebay.com/an-kier11?_trks ... 7675.l2559" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He's sold several sets of that deck, as well as other interesting decks, so you might watch to see if he relists it again.

[RSLancastr]

Thanks!

[walrus]

RS, it seems like you post a new deck everyday. How many decks do you have now.

You guys are doing well with the vintage decks. I have been trying to find them at thrift stores etc. Not having much luck.I will be going to upstate NY when the weather gets nice, they have a great flea market that carries a good deal of them.

[RSLancastr]

RS, it seems like you post a new deck everyday. How many decks do you have now.

Haven't taken stock in ages, but somewhere north of 2,200 decks.

I only have two more purchases I'm waiting on delivery at the moment:

1. A three-deck set of miniature decks of Alchemist, Alchemist X, and Phoenix.
2. A Bicycle Harry Potter deck (it's coming from Hong Kong, so I'm not holding my breath on it getting here.

I also will be posting scans of the 17 decks I got from Mike's "Dent and Ding" sale.

Am I posting too much stuff? Is it getting annoying?

I am hoping that some time soon I will get access to the bulk of my collection - now in BCW boxes up out of my reach - and can scan and post some of the more interesting decks from there as well.

[walrus]

No No No my good man. Not annoying at all. You get some very unique things and give me some good ideas. That is what this is all about.

[RSLancastr]

Pfew!

[Modi]

I Agree, it's far from annoying. Quite the opposite in fact, it allows me to check out decks I didn't know where out there, and often add them to my list of stuff to purchase.

[RSLancastr]

Good to know, Modi - thanks!

Sometimes I feel like some of the folks who have been on UC longer than I have (which would be just about everyone here) are less than happy with my collector-centric (as opposed to flourisher-centric) posting.

[jmrock]

RSLancaster... Not annoying, but I will admit, I amazed that you will buy just about anything... You seem to not have any standards (perhaps filter is better) when it comes to purchasing decks... However, I feel that you've posted some very interesting things... Just feel free to leave out any Merz decks in the future... Much Respect...

[RSLancastr]

jmrock:

Thanks for weighing in.

As far as my "standards", I buy what interests me.

This primarily consists of any deck with nonstandard/custom courts which I do not already have (meaning, if I already have a deck with those courts, I am less likely to buy another).

In the past couple of years, I have also started a sub-collection of Bikes, buying just about any deck with the Bicycle logo. I would bet that many of my old-school, non-cardist collector friends would look upon that as my "buying just about anything".

In the past few weeks I have started another "sub-collection", of decks with Christmas-themed faces. I suspect some of these decks, in my "Decks the Halls" topic/thread, are part of what has caused you t think that I would buy anything.

One of those decks was the one and only Merz deck I have posted here, as far as I recall. It had non-standard courts, the Bicycle logo, and Christmas-themed faces, making it fit into all three of the categories of decks I currently look for, so it does NOT by any means fall under "will buy anything" in my book.

I have bought a few other decks from Merz, but I think this is the only one of his design I've bought. Although some of his others have Bicycle logos, from what I can tell there is not much to them, and there would be MANY Bikes I would buy before buying them.

It's funny - when I first started actively collecting playing cards (around 1995 or so), many of the other collectors I met felt somewhat like you apparently do now about my choices (posted on my web site back then), and looked down their nose at some of the more modern and lighthearted decks I liked (they would not think of buying a deck that was less than, say, fifty years old).

A couple of years later, one of them - whose museum-quality collection was worth more than a million dollars - pulled me aside at a convention and showed me a modern kid's deck he had just purchased on a whim, thinking "this is something Robert would buy", and later, decided that he actually LIKED it - "It's kind of fun!" he said. Weeks later, he kiddingly cursed me for getting him interested in many decks he would never have considered purchasing before.

So, whichever decks I've posted that you feel show a lack of standards on my part (and I'd be curious to hear just which those are), who knows, you might see some merit in them some day.

But again, thanks for letting me know your thoughts on this. I doubt you are alone in your opinion.

-RSL

[MJF]

RSL, continue posting please. Its great to see the variety your deck entails. I also enjoying seeing the rare deck you've come across in your collecting...

[jmrock]

My goodness RSL... I said nothing but respect... You have an outstanding collection and as I stated I perhaps should've chosen "filter" as the better word choice... As in you seem to collect just about everything and anything... I am just amazed, because after seeing the various collections and styles of purchasing from many of the collectors here, you collect...well - Everything... As for Merz, I think we've all fell victim to at least one deck of his... Keep posting... I do find merit in many of your decks...

[RSLancastr]

jmrock:

When I first started collecting playing cards, some of the long-time collectors I met advised me to find a much narrower focus than simply "decks with npn-standard/custom courts", as that was too wide/large a group to ever hope to complete, nor to even know how many decks fell into that category.

Most oi them had much narrower focuses (foci?), collecting only the decks of a specific publisher, or country, or decade, etc., or which related to a given subject (politics, sports, travel, whatever). others limited their collecting to a given type of deck (transformation, souvenir, railroad, etc).

I can see the attraction of this approach, particularly if you are the type of person who wants to "collect the whole set".

But although I can get bit by the "collect the whole set" bug (witness my Bikes addiction of the past two years or so), I feel no need to know when my collection is "complete" - So, my "filter", as you put it, is "if a deck interests me and has a fair price that I can afford, I will buy it."

Yes, you said "in all respect" (or something like that), but the rest of your post said that it looked to you as though I would buy ANYTHING, and I saw no other way to take that other than "look at some of the crap you buy!"

Another "filter" I used to use in selecting decks (and still do, to a much lesser extent) was that I would be more likely to buy a deck if I felt it would look good on my web site, and/or if I felt that I had something of interest that I could say about the deck on my web site.

Although my site has gone the way of the Dodo, I still plan/hope to revive it one day, and so that "filter" is still in the back of my mind. I similarly lean towards decks which I think would make for an interesting post (here and elsewhere). One example of that would be my recent subcollection of Christmas-faced decks. I posted scans from a few decks that fit that description (on another forum) in December, and it got a very positive reaction, so I continued looking for more decks to add to that thread ("Decks the Halls"). When I revive my web site, I can see possibly having a page devoted to those decks .

Best,

-RSL

[RSLancastr]

RSL, continue posting please. Its great to see the variety your deck entails. I also enjoying seeing the rare deck you've come across in your collecting...

Thanks, MJF!