[Kevork] My Card Collection

[kevork]

One of the most beautiful tucks to have ever been created.


Help! I'm seeing double...

[double_left]

Nice was wondering where that AP one on eBay went

[kevork]

Nice was wondering where that AP one on eBay went

I did not bid on that listing. This post was prompted by the recent TGW success, as I just received Successor.

[kevork]

Went to get these properly framed and give some life back to the Ambassadors uncut as it had been mounted with archival tape in its previous frame with the previous owner. The employee educated me on how that would be more appropriate for very delicate items like newspapers. They will be using photo corners instead and acid free foam board to back it. I decided to go with museum glass too for not only the UV protection but also the minimal reflectivity.

I learned a bunch of stuff regarding framing today.

[kevork]

The emerald just arrived today, so here is an update for NPCCD since my post back in October.

In photo (left to right): 2017 NPCCD Emerald, 2019 NPCCD Goats in Trees, 2017 NPCCD Anthracite
The 2019 I keep in a Carat XST, while the other two will go in X1's for the time being. Hopefully some day I'll be able to reach out to Sherman for a Carat X11 for the nine 2019 decks as the original 6 are currently in a Carat X8.

If anyone has NPCCD decks for sale, you can find the link to my NPCCD thread in my signature to see what I'm missing, along with pictures!

[kevork]

And now I need to figure out how to best frame Fable.

[acetofive]

Very nice.

[kevork]

I never had a chance to obtain V1, but if you haven't seen Martin Hill's frankendecks before, these are V2 & V3 of his handcrafted creations. I am not showing the cards as he wants them to be a surprise, but they're quite an assortment of modern decks! You can always ask him privately to see what's included.

He may still have some available, so here's his sale post: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=22197

[kevork]

Another one of "The Collector's" items has found its way to me. A 3x3 uncut sheet of one of my favorite Lotrek decks, Silk Blue.
What makes this even more unique is that it uses silver foil instead of the gold found in the final version. I will have to frame this as well 🩶

The following pictures are from the eBay listing he had originally posted back in October of 2020. I'm posting them as they came out much better than the pictures I tried to take.

[Bradius]

A very unique item. Congrats on adding this one.

[kevork]

Finally was able to acquire the Grotesk Test Prints. I'll have to compare these to the final versions at some point! I added some background information below the photos.

Here's an error I found at first glance on the Inferno Test Print.

First, the "test" decks I'm offering are selected so as to be fine, without major issues. Among the about 260 decks from each edition, there are certainly 50 that are good. Especially Inferno is fine.
I'm offering them at half the original price despite the fact that they're so few. There are people who WANT to have these versions, too. Collectors are crazy, you know!
Besides, after looking at the first print for ages, I'm making some changes to the design, further improving it. Like as if I had printed the most expensive proofs ever! So the "test" decks are there for the sake of history of this edition.

Black Silver Edition: Generally okay but in many decks the supplementary cards have a different gloss and less deep air-pocket finish, too [...] plus that many of the cards were apparently stamped with a different quality of foil, leaving a lot of silver powder on the fingers, while other cards don't.

INFERNO Edition: No issues in general, apart from the fact that the metallic gold ink is a bit dark and doesn't have the desired contrast against the red stock.This will be fixed with the use of a different tone gold and a "heavier" printing.

Black Mass edition: Both decks have a rather strong varnish smell. After a whole year, it's still there.

There was supposed to be a Black Gold test print as well, but I'm not sure what happened to those.

[Bradius]

Congrats on picking up those tough ones. From what I recall, Lotrek simply couldn't find the Black Gold (or whatever it was) when he finally shipped the others out. Ah well. Those were some of my earliest Lotrek purchases under a Kickstarter project. Although, these actually were purchased directly from Lotrek. Numbers 3 and 4. Sweet toppings too.

[Shade]

Another one of "The Collector's" items has found its way to me. A 3x3 uncut sheet of one of my favorite Lotrek decks, Silk Blue.
What makes this even more unique is that it uses silver foil instead of the gold found in the final version. I will have to frame this as well 🩶

Very Nice - I am way jealous. I have not gotten my hands on a Lotrek uncut yet, even though they have come up from time to time on ebay.

Great to see you finally got your hands on a set of test print decks.

[kevork]

Something I noticed with a long-delayed Venexiana Gold shipment on my end, is how beautiful multiple of these decks would look next to each other.

[kevork]

I'm in utter awe of this deck and couldn't help but post a little teaser. Easily one of my favorites in my collection.

[Honeybee]

Talk about a teaser - come on give it up now

[kevork]

You can compare my deck to Gandalf's here. Now he can post more of his cards Looks like Karl sometimes swapped where he'd use blue and purple, and in some cases mine is left white in places where his are yellow. Ultimately a really fun comparison and showcase of how each of these decks is unique. Seeing some consistent scratching between the two decks also highlights the beauty of the imperfections that can come about when using copper engravings rather than digital artwork. These scans and photos don't do the decks proper justice. It's to the point where it has genuinely sparked some intrigue in me to look into printmaking, even if it ends up staying a fantasy.

[Bradius]

Oh no. Someone else has been sucked into the Carl vortex.

I must admit his decks do look amazing....must resist the urge....

[GandalfPC]

I must admit his decks do look amazing....must resist the urge....

As kevork found - the trap is to think they look amazing, but to figure that getting just one will be ok

Once in the hand you find yourself under its spell - by the time you regain any sense of the world you find you are in the jaws of the rabbit

A rabbit hole of doom - run away, run away!

[kevork]

52 Transformierte Spielkarten by Siegfried Heilmeier, 1989, with a print run of 110. Cards are a larger size in a drop-lid box. Each box comes with a different card from the deck glued on the top. I've included some of my favorites from the deck below.

WOPC Reference

Not much is known about the artist, but it appears most of his works are listed on The World Web Playing Card Museum. A lot of them are nude art decks.

[kevork]

When it comes to Lotrek's decks (not including prototypes that may exist in the world) I am now... complete.
I feel very grateful for this particular opportunity that's been over a year in the making.

P.S. I edited the numbering out to protect the identity of the seller and a layer of anonymity as well.

[GandalfPC]

Really? I wasn’t aware you had scored the Rainbow Oath deck, his rarest and most coveted - I had thought the last available copy was somewhere in the antarctic…

kidding aside, Contrats!

[kevork]

A lot of people may not know that 52 Plus Joker had club decks prior to 2014, but they aren't mentioned much these days. There were yearly releases from 2005-2010, of which I am now only missing 2010.

I highly recommend you become a member of the club, as $25 a year gets you access to a newsletter, a wonderful community, purchasing the club deck, auctions, and much more.

[kevork]

These were acquired across three different sales from three different people. Incredible luck. Odds of finding Imperial #002 are slim but not 0!

And an update on some Lotrek goodies I acquired recently thanks to a fellow community member:

Here are better pictures of the coin courtesy of Slavich on eBay as these are beyond what I can take:

[rousselle]

All three of those decks at #02? Holy Schnikes!

[Harvonsgard]

What an amazing collection. Huge kudos!

[GandalfPC]

[rousselle]

Also, in Canada, 222's are caffeine-laced codeine pills that you can buy over-the-counter just like you can buy Advil over-the-counter in the US.

Ah, sweet, sweet pain relief.

[baraapiberkobar]

I think this is my lucky day to jump in to your thread, Kevork. Your collection are really remarkable consider you just started exactly two years ago. I'm very envy with the Blue Damask you have. I do hope I can acquire one some day. So what will be your next "prey"?

[kevork]

Had this in my wishlist for quite some time. I'd even messaged the company itself, the artist, and some collectors on P52 to no avail, but it just popped up on eBay and I had to get it. These were for a ginger beer from StrangeLove, an Australian beverage company, with art from Randy Mora.

I think this is my lucky day to jump in to your thread, Kevork. Your collection are really remarkable consider you just started exactly two years ago. I'm very envy with the Blue Damask you have. I do hope I can acquire one some day. So what will be your next "prey"?

Your words are very kind! My primary focus right now aside from Lotrek ephemera, is the 2017 NPCCD Amethyst. I'm finding that one to be quite elusive to my hunting skills.