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

[Mike Ratledge]

Well, since I added images of my Italian Cats deck (the images in my "grid" upthread) to my old web site on August 3, 1997:

http://web.archive.org/web/200412090037 ... blgupc.htm

...Ms. Nicod would have been sixteen years younger when I corresponded with her (as would we all), and probably in better health (I know that I certainly was).

Yep, same deck (the 1997 "Gatteria" / Piatnik # 2177) with illustrations (C) 1996 by Evelyne Nicod. The 1989 Black & White deck I've never seen anywhere before.

[Mike Ratledge]

This does not say much for my picture-taking abilities, the reflection on the left middle row is the 4th of my wayward Federal 52 decks next to the other three. The black spot next to my Imps is a Japanese BlackDeck import that I found called a Mollo (Molla?) as I recall. Nice, heavy paper, weighs about ½ again what any of the USPCC decks do even though it is slightly smaller than 2½×3½".

Some nice ones, some just average...

[samurai007]

The Elves and Orcs deck from Nat Iwata's Kickstarter arrived in the mail today.

[cosmicsecret]

got my Whispering imps decks today (bought them from the website on friday) and it took only 5 days! from the USA to Germany. Lazy customs i guess hehe.
Those are some sexy cards&tuck boxes.

[Mike Ratledge]

got my Whispering imps decks today (bought them from the website on friday) and it took only 5 days! from the USA to Germany. Lazy customs i guess hehe.
Those are some sexy cards&tuck boxes.

Isn't that the truth! Those two tucks are among my favorite, and that's saying something for a deck that has only been available for a few weeks at most. The red one is especially nice, I guess it's just better manufacturing techniques that have come around in the past year or two? "SS/Lions" & "Legends" look great, but these look fabulous!

[dazzleguts]

This does not say much for my picture-taking abilities, the reflection on the left middle row is the 4th of my wayward Federal 52 decks next to the other three. The black spot next to my Imps is a Japanese BlackDeck import that I found called a Mollo (Molla?) as I recall. Nice, heavy paper, weighs about ½ again what any of the USPCC decks do even though it is slightly smaller than 2½×3½".

Some nice ones, some just average...

Hey ratledge. The Molla deck is heavy because it's made of PVC.
Where did you buy it? I am looking at getting one myself.

[Mike Ratledge]

This does not say much for my picture-taking abilities, the reflection on the left middle row is the 4th of my wayward Federal 52 decks next to the other three. The black spot next to my Imps is a Japanese BlackDeck import that I found called a Molla as I recall. Nice, heavy paper, weighs about ½ again what any of the USPCC decks do even though it is slightly smaller than 2½×3½".

Some nice ones, some just average...

Hey ratledge. The Molla deck is heavy because it's made of PVC.
Where did you buy it? I am looking at getting one myself.

Got 'em off ebay, haven't seen it since. I think I paid $10 for the red and $10 for the black decks, postage/shipping included. No wonder it's so heavy! They weren't listed as "BlackDeck" or "RedDeck" (or whatever the heck it says in hieroglyphics, Mandarin, or whatever that is on the tucks) - just "Molla space" decks, black & red and I remember there being a "wood" deck, also. I don't remember seeing that before, and it does say that they are 2.4" x 3.5" decks.

Here they are:

Black: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Molla-Space-BLA ... 485ab7a0cb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Red: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Molla-Space-RED ... 485979ac55" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wood: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Molla-Space-WOO ... 485979b420" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

$10 a shot, these have $3.99 / deck shipping, but I always get combined shipping by putting them in my cart ("Buy it Now!" items) and then sending a request for combined shipping. You are committed to buy them, but 9 times out of 10 I get back a reasonable reduction in the shipping within 24 hours.

Interesting - I've never seen this before: IT IS ILLEGAL TO SHIP PLAYING CARDS TO BELGIUM, ISRAEL, GREECE, ITALY and SPAIN - DO NOT BUY (in their listings)

[dazzleguts]

Thanks for digging those up. I like the red deck. Bet it looks good with the red edges - no need for a sharpie there.

Shipping to Canada is more than double what you see @ $9.55, + $3.66 for each additional item. $13.21 for 2 decks, which is what I usually buy if there are multiples. That makes the 2 decks $33.21 and too much for me.

As for the illegal shipping - I have purchased playing cards online from a tattoo shop in Israel so how can it be illegal to ship them there? They do list games of chance as being illegal in the USPS postal regulations but I wonder if those rules are outdated. The prohibition on mailing single playing cards in or to Germany was lifted in 1981 when they stopped taxing decks, but the USPS still has that in their restrictions too.

[RSLancastr]

As for the illegal shipping - I have purchased playing cards online from a tattoo shop in Israel so how can it be illegal to ship them there?

As a guess, for the same reason I do not allow door-to-door salespersons into my home, but if I found any already inside my home, I would gladly allow them to leave.

There is one country - I seem to recall that it was Turkey - that put a limit to the number of decks of playing cards you could bring into the country in your luggage. I think the limit was something like two decks, and I assumed it was to discourage people from trying to set up gambling establishments in their country.

[Mike Ratledge]

Goodies from the post office. Not much worthy of note except the Lance Miller signed Gargoyles "Expo" and red seal White Myth/Moth. I don't think that last one is generally available yet...

[MagikFingerz]

Is the red seal White Moth/Myth a new printing?

[Mike Ratledge]

Is the red seal White Moth/Myth a new printing?

Yep, sure is. Let me find the hand-written note he put on a green 9 of Hearts: "The white moth is a special edition, that with red tag! This is not out at market yet."

[chach]

Received via Royal Air Mail. Pretty damn fast IMO, and wishing I had bought more than just the one now. Not sure if I should open it or not...

[volantangel]

Received via Royal Air Mail. Pretty damn fast IMO, and wishing I had bought more than just the one now. Not sure if I should open it or not...

I managed to snag 2 myself =D It is my white whale afterall, still waiting on them =D

[Eoghann]

Received via Royal Air Mail. Pretty damn fast IMO, and wishing I had bought more than just the one now. Not sure if I should open it or not...

That's why I ponied up for two. I knew I wouldn't resist. Go ahead man, treat yourself.

[Mike Ratledge]

I'll have to picture mine in my weekly stash when I get off work tonight or tomorrow: "Royal Mail" arrived as did one from Singapore, looking for the Italian one!

Nice, and a little odd.

[chach]

I was a member of the first shipment, cards came in about 1/2 hour ago. Absolutely magnificent, another stellar job by Linnea and Peter.

[Mike Ratledge]

I was a member of the first shipment, cards came in about 1/2 hour ago. Absolutely magnificent, another stellar job by Linnea & Peter.

Excellent - I noticed that I have a shipment inbound from peter@uusi.us this morning, must be a pair of Redux!

My Legends v2 Black Metallic bricks, Blue Exquisite brick, ½ bricks of Red Exquisite & Espionage already here, just waiting for bricks of Black JAQK from Theory11 and one last wayward box from CARC.

It's being mean to me, won't let me attach my pic, I'll try a separate message...

Nope - I'll try the laptop instead of my phone.

[Eoghann]

Got an email from peter as well. BB Redux are on their way!

So this week is gonna be great. I received Radical 80s and Calaveras today, and BB Redux will arrive later in the week.

[Mike Ratledge]

Got an email from peter as well. BB Redux are on their way!

So this week is gonna be great. I received Radical 80s and Calaveras today, and BB Redux will arrive later in the week.

Federal "Part II" should be out within a week or two. I've heard they hit the retail pipelineon Friday.

Let's see if it let's me attach a pic: (nope - time to try the laptop)

Here we go: Goodies from the postman, not including the Italian Cats first decks, all signed by Evelyne Nicod, 4 of which are shipping out at 10AM to lucky UnitedCardists.com forum users that jumped on the offer and get signed decks for the original price quoted.

Let's see - two decks each of Skulkor, Black Centurions, Warrior Horse and Gorgoyles with one of two bricks of "Legends v2 Black Metallic" decks from CARC. Espionage came in, everything I ordered on Black Friday except the Black JAQK & Medallion decks from Theory11.

[Firthetic]

The Black Friday stuff is gonna take a while to reach these Asian shores, so I went to get some decks today from local sellers.

Box.jpg (207.17 KiB) Viewed 1996 times

DB.jpg (264.17 KiB) Viewed 1996 times

Four.jpg (132.3 KiB) Viewed 1996 times

[MagikFingerz]

Nice haul, Firthetic!

Wish I had "local sellers"

[Mike Ratledge]

The Black Friday stuff is gonna take a while to reach these Asian shores, so I went to get some decks today from local sellers.

Box.jpg

Ah, I ended up with one of those today, bought it from a retiring collector for $200. I thought that was a good deal, having seen the same thing sell for $390 on ebay.

[cosmicsecret]

thats a good price $200. i only got the 2nd DB Collectors box and those White Lions Series A in red are missing in my collection

[Mike Ratledge]

thats a good price $200. i only got the 2nd DB Collectors box and those White Lions Series A in red are missing in my collection

Yep, that box originally sold for $100, and there were only 100 as I recall. The later (all black) brick with "Split Spade Lion" decks sold for $250, I'm pretty certain there were either 150 or 250 of those. Somebody else might have a better memory than I. Seems like economics would work backwards here, but no - I've seen the newer one sell for over $550 - more of them (less rare) and basically all commonly available decks.

The standard blue and split spade lion decks are easy enough to pick up. The reason I couldn't resist is that there are 7 of those 12 decks you just really can't (easily) get anywhere else: the 2 "Bee Casino" SS decks, 2 Red (actually one 'red' and one UV red - I've seen them called "rainbow"), 1 Blue UV deck and 2 "Not For Resale" Bicycle Split Spade sample/demo decks. Now, how do you tell which of the two red and two blue "White Lion" decks is the UV deck? I don't have a clue, I've never really closely examined them.

[charlie81dbz]

Received my decks from Sharpie today:



Very happy I managed to snag one, Sharpie is pretty darn awesome.

Also received my uncut of Venexiana today, but I don't have room to take a pic of it. Looks fantastic though, and can't wait to see the decks & coin.

charlie

[cosmicsecret]

wow i wish i had this brick - wondering what sharpie packed up for me
Merry-BrickMas

[Mike Ratledge]

wow i wish i had this brick - wondering what sharpie packed up for me
Merry-BrickMas

Yep, he's still packing & shipping, I bet! (Just kidding, S!)

[chach]

The post office was very kind to me today.



A sampling of what's inside, not disappointed by any of them.

[Mike Ratledge]

Black_Reserve_Note_signature.jpg (176.48 KiB) Viewed 1691 times

Not "playing cards" exactly - but closely related. I received a little 8" roll today with a prize inside, pictured below. That looks like a Federal II "Black Reserve Note", I do believe - with signature "Jackson 4/72".