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History of Casino Decks

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History of Casino Decks
« on: March 10, 2014, 07:14:49 PM »
 

bathcrew

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Hi,

The following link shows many interesting informations. Indeed, there are many types of golden nugget :
https://sites.google.com/site/cardconjurer/playingcards/vintagecasinoplayingcards/goldennugget

Good job from the author!

Best regards,

Bathcrew.
« Last Edit: September 21, 2014, 03:44:54 AM by Don Boyer »
 

Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #1 on: May 12, 2014, 09:48:37 AM »
 

fredv

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Hello,

there is a work in progress to upgrade this with many new information, statistics, histories, pictures ..

Maybe it will be released before the end of summer :)

Fred.
 

Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2014, 04:10:25 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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We've had countless articles here written about the Golden Nugget series of decks.  Perform a search for them from the home page and peruse them yourself - you might find even more quality information on the subject.

Perhaps we should even begin a bit of consolidation of the various topics...  I find it better to keep each deck to a single topic for future readers like yourself to find them more easily.
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Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2014, 06:20:58 AM »
 

iDoctor

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It would be great if you consolidate some popular topics, like Golden Nuggets or other vintage Vegas cards. There are a lot of different articles and sources but at the same time it's not easy to find correct and complete information. Above mentioned source, for example, is incomplete and doesn't contain certain info (about stamps and certain production years) and pics of some GN decks (f/ex Hotel and Casino in red).
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Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2014, 08:22:18 AM »
 

fredv

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iDoctor,
the work is still in progress and may be published sometime this year .. if Lee and I have more time :)

As far as Golden Nugget cards are concerned, i think we have a quite exhaustive view of which year for which color. We have a survey with around 200 decks (seen on ebay, or in collections), and we are less and less surprised about new items we can find.   If you have a collection of GN you may help if you want ..

About other Vegas vintage cards, yes it could be interesting, even if there are not many casinos with as many differences as Golden Nugget ..

Jerry's Nugget, for example, are quite easy : two colors, one year of production. Period.
Most of other Vegas Casinos 70's cards are like that .. Only Golden Nugget have more than 6 colors and years
 

Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2014, 03:08:33 AM »
 

iDoctor

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Fred,
First of all thank you for your work, it's very useful and looks nice. Hope you will have enough time to develop it further. As for my interest, I would say you much thanks if you info me about exact production's years of each generation of GNs. From my side I may help with some scans and images which are not presented there at presence (f/ex 2nd generation in brown or Hotel and Casino in red).
As for other vintage Vegas decks, you are absolutely right that they have less differences than GNs. At the same time, I'm sure for some of us it will be interesting and useful to have general database and forum in one place. Might be, it's my personal interest as vintage Vegas decks collector, but I hope not only mine.
P.S. For example, I couldn't find any info about exact years of printing of the purple (Arrco style) Carson Nugget's cards and other info about them. It seems to be between 1959 and 1965, but I'm not sure.
« Last Edit: September 17, 2014, 04:14:51 AM by iDoctor »
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Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2014, 10:30:25 AM »
 

fredv

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I don't think there are many vintage Vegas cards collectors .. The story of these cards is not well known and nowadays many people prefer collecting newer cards mostly because it's less expensive and we can buy more and play with them  :)

I have 2nd generation brown and red hotel and casino, what would be interesting is a list of all decks you have with the code of the ace of spades .. to be able to feed the survey i could give you an access ..

Send me a PM and we'll be able to study that ..

About the purple Carson City i have only seen it once but i never really studied these cards.
 

Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2014, 12:04:39 AM »
 

sliverboi

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Jerry's Nugget, for example, are quite easy : two colors, one year of production. Period.
Most of other Vegas Casinos 70's cards are like that .. Only Golden Nugget have more than 6 colors and years

Hi Fredv,

I don't normally post here and mainly a lurker. However it itchs me to post when people mention vintage casino cards as its my favourite collection. I believe the other casino that has lot of colors apart from Golden Nuggets, will be Desert Inn. I have 3 pairs (3R & 4B) of sealed red and blue Desert Inn and personally seen other colors like Green and Gold on eBay before.

As for the Purple Carson City Nugget printed by Arrcco Playing Card Company, I do have one sealed. I can provide photos when I borrow a good camera from my friend. However that will only be the tuck box as all of my Vintage Casino Decks are sealed. I have the USPCC printed pair as well.

As for Golden Nugget, if I am not wrong I have all the colors less the first generation Purple & Orange as well as second generation Red (both the "Gambling Hall and Roaming House" and "Hotel and Casino"). Other than that I should be able to help out with the photos.

Having Dunes in the project will be great if possible. I too can provide the photos if you need them.

Hey iDoctor, I initially thought you are River Tsai because of the display picture you are using, as that photo was taken by him. Maybe can try seeking River Tsai's help when it comes to Vintage Casino Cards because he is very knowledgeable and have a wide range of decks (I used to ask him alot to understand more of Vintage Cards).
 

Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #8 on: September 19, 2014, 06:54:44 AM »
 

iDoctor

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Jerry's Nugget, for example, are quite easy : two colors, one year of production. Period.
Most of other Vegas Casinos 70's cards are like that .. Only Golden Nugget have more than 6 colors and years

Hey iDoctor, I initially thought you are River Tsai because of the display picture you are using, as that photo was taken by him. Maybe can try seeking River Tsai's help when it comes to Vintage Casino Cards because he is very knowledgeable and have a wide range of decks (I used to ask him alot to understand more of Vintage Cards).

Hi, Silverboi,
Thank you for your post. I'm really quite charmed by vintage Vegas cards and I'm on a long way of collecting them. My avatar (you were absolutely right, taken from River Tsai) shows my key interest. Unfortunately I have no contact with him and will be glad to get it, if possible.
Always yours, iDoctor

P.S. First GN generation had purple?? Please, PM me photos if you have..
« Last Edit: October 27, 2014, 04:31:42 AM by iDoctor »
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Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #9 on: September 19, 2014, 09:15:44 AM »
 

fredv

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Hello guys,

i think we are on the way to creating something nice :)
Maybe we can start with listing all the types of cards we want to study .. i will contact you via PM as soon as i have enough time .. we'll talk about that and try to list which cards we want to follow .. Nuggets, Desert Inn, Imperial Palace, Caesar Palace, Dunes, Silver Slipper,  all these mythics decks !

And yes there is a purple Golden Nugget deck, the rarest, the most expensive one .. the only one i'm still looking for :)  (last one was around $300 for a used one)
 

Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #10 on: September 19, 2014, 11:11:12 AM »
 

sliverboi

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P.S. First GN generation had purple?? Please, PM me photos if you have..
[/quote]

Hey iDoctor, sad to say, like I mentioned, I am missing the purple as well as the orange GN. Its way too rich for my blood especially for the current market. The rarest GN I have is the blue one and that had caused a big hole in my pocket.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I have a borderless second generation Green GN and wonder if you guys have any idea about this deck?

And fredv, I have attached a photo of the purp Carson City Nugget. Don't know if your interested in taking a look again =p

Cheers,
sliverboi

PS: Sorry for the bad quality of the photos as I am using my handphone camera to take. Hope I can take better photo when I borrow a quality camera from my friend.
 

Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #11 on: September 19, 2014, 03:08:29 PM »
 

iDoctor

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P.S. First GN generation had purple?? Please, PM me photos if you have..

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I have a borderless second generation Green GN and wonder if you guys have any idea about this deck?

[/quote]

Wow, Siverboy, it' fantastic!
I've never even seen this bordless GN! Thanks a lot for your photo. The only one idea cames to me. As this deck is wrapped in individual transparent cello, it might be a part of a 2-decks gift set. Similar sets were in use at that days in Vegas casinos, including Silver Slipper (their set had blue and green cards) and MGM Grand (brown and gold cards). All these cards were individually wrapped in cello and had a common paper box for 2 decks (sample photo attached). In this case this deck should has similar deck in red (or other color?) :) But what about the producer of this deck - Whitman Publishing Company? Just wow..
As your Carsons is sealed, I've added some photos from inside for your pleasure. It was my pleasure to meet you here.
Yours, iDoctor
« Last Edit: November 07, 2014, 11:04:08 AM by iDoctor »
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Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #12 on: September 19, 2014, 08:56:30 PM »
 

sliverboi

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The only one idea cames to me. As this deck is wrapped in individual transparent cello, it might be a part of a 2-decks gift set. Similar sets were in use at that days in Vegas casinos, including Silver Slipper (their set had blue and green cards) and MGM Grand (brown and gold cards). All these cards were individually wrapped in cello and had a common paper box for 2 decks (sample photo attached).
[/quote]

Hey iDoctor, maybe you might want to check on your attached files? It seems to no work for me. Yup I too think that the borderless green GN is from a 2-decks gift set as I have quite a couple of casino gift sets myself. Namely the MGM, Sahara (3rd ed?), Frontiers (4 boxes of One way back, still finding the Two way back design) and Dunes.

I am definitely interested in looking at what's inside the purp Carson City Nugget deck. Please try to re-upload the photos again  ;)

And also its been my pleasure too to know vintage casino cards collectors like you because comparing vintage card collectors and modern cards collectors, vintage collectors are really little.

Cheers,
sliverboi
« Last Edit: September 19, 2014, 08:58:13 PM by sliverboi »
 

Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #13 on: September 20, 2014, 04:31:01 AM »
 

iDoctor

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The only one idea cames to me. As this deck is wrapped in individual transparent cello, it might be a part of a 2-decks gift set. Similar sets were in use at that days in Vegas casinos, including Silver Slipper (their set had blue and green cards) and MGM Grand (brown and gold cards). All these cards were individually wrapped in cello and had a common paper box for 2 decks (sample photo attached).

Hey iDoctor, maybe you might want to check on your attached files? It seems to no work for me. Yup I too think that the borderless green GN is from a 2-decks gift set as I have quite a couple of casino gift sets myself. Namely the MGM, Sahara (3rd ed?), Frontiers (4 boxes of One way back, still finding the Two way back design) and Dunes.

I am definitely interested in looking at what's inside the purp Carson City Nugget deck. Please try to re-upload the photos again  ;)

And also its been my pleasure too to know vintage casino cards collectors like you because comparing vintage card collectors and modern cards collectors, vintage collectors are really little.

Cheers,
sliverboi
[/quote]

Hi, Silverboi
It's done (I've reduced photo file sizes), hope everithing is Ok now. I've also sent you photo via mail to be sure.
Yours, iDoctor

P.S. I've found one purple GN sold on eBay in 2012 ($649). Photo attached.
« Last Edit: September 20, 2014, 06:25:27 AM by iDoctor »
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #14 on: September 21, 2014, 03:47:04 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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Gentlefolk, as it appears that you're turning up some grade-A material on casino decks, I've moved your topic into "The Source - Card Collecting 101".  It's where we keep the best reference materials on all card-related subjects.

Please, keep up the good work!
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #15 on: September 21, 2014, 11:38:09 AM »
 

iDoctor

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Thank you, Don.
To appreciate this let me show one very specific deck from my collection. It's Dunes 1st run (Bee, 1965, but after June 22). This deck is rare as it is, but this one is especially rare. Usually the color of the box and color of the cards inside were the same (either blue or red). But this deck was mixed during the production. The box is red, but all cards are blue (excepting 3 red cards). It has come mixed from the producer. Hope, you guys like it  ;)
« Last Edit: October 27, 2014, 04:34:48 AM by iDoctor »
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #16 on: September 22, 2014, 01:59:59 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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Thank you, Don.
To appreciate this let me show one very specific deck from my collection. It's Dunes 1st run (Bee, 1965, but after June 22). This deck is rare as it is, but this one especially rare. Usually the color of the box and color of the cards inside were the same (either blue or red). But this deck was mixed during the production. The box is red, but all cards are blue (excepting 3 red cards). It has come mixed from the producer. Hope, you guys like it  ;)

It's a cool find, not something you see all the time.  Now, was this a "floor-used" design or was it produced as a gift shop item?
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #17 on: September 22, 2014, 05:28:16 AM »
 

runIt

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Thank you, Don.
To appreciate this let me show one very specific deck from my collection. It's Dunes 1st run (Bee, 1965, but after June 22). This deck is rare as it is, but this one especially rare. Usually the color of the box and color of the cards inside were the same (either blue or red). But this deck was mixed during the production. The box is red, but all cards are blue (excepting 3 red cards). It has come mixed from the producer. Hope, you guys like it  ;)

If you want to see a rich and vast collection of Vintage Casino Decks, people from Taiwan and China are the ones you should look for. River Tsai, Ares Xue to name a few.

PD: I am a vintage casino deck collector myself, but not as great as the two mentioned. :)
 

Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #18 on: September 22, 2014, 06:13:46 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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If you want to see a rich and vast collection of Vintage Casino Decks, people from Taiwan and China are the ones you should look for. River Tsai, Ares Xue to name a few.

PD: I am a vintage casino deck collector myself, but not as great as the two mentioned. :)

If you know them, please - INVITE THEM!  If they aren't interested or don't know enough English, perhaps you can get permission to load photos from their collections here.

You don't have to be a great casino-deck collector to contribute - you just have to have the decks.
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #19 on: September 22, 2014, 07:10:21 AM »
 

iDoctor

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Thank you, Don.
To appreciate this let me show one very specific deck from my collection. It's Dunes 1st run (Bee, 1965, but after June 22). This deck is rare as it is, but this one especially rare. Usually the color of the box and color of the cards inside were the same (either blue or red). But this deck was mixed during the production. The box is red, but all cards are blue (excepting 3 red cards). It has come mixed from the producer. Hope, you guys like it  ;)

If you want to see a rich and vast collection of Vintage Casino Decks, people from Taiwan and China are the ones you should look for. River Tsai, Ares Xue to name a few.

PD: I am a vintage casino deck collector myself, but not as great as the two mentioned. :)

Yes, River's Vintage (especially - Golden Nugget) collection is the best I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I'm not in contact with him. I can only post here the link to his Flickr account River1219, where you can see a part of his outstanding collection: https://www.flickr.com/photos/39778534@N08
« Last Edit: September 22, 2014, 07:19:46 AM by iDoctor »
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #20 on: October 19, 2014, 06:55:35 AM »
 

iDoctor

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After some hesitations I've finally decided to write a post about one more wellknown casino cards. Brown Wynns. eBay is crowded with buy- and sell-offers of “Brown Wynns – the famous Theory11 Cards”. As mentioned on Theory11 website: “Brown Wynns … the next Jerry's Nuggets - or the closest thing to 'em.”

But – there is no Theory11 logo of any kind to be found on this deck. Why? It's not a deck created or produced by Theory11.

There were three different types of Bee Wynns in existence: Signature, Icon and Encore. They were available in a dozen of different variations of types, colors and indices (I've got 9 of them in my collection).

The most common ones were Signature Wynn cards (sometimes called Scrypt). They have the word 'Wynn' written on them, and are available in Red, Blue and BROWN. They were used on the gambling table at the Wynn's casino in Las Vegas. They are very standard Bee Casino diamond-baked cards, nothing interesting.

« Last Edit: October 19, 2014, 07:19:11 AM by iDoctor »
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #21 on: October 19, 2014, 06:58:25 AM »
 

iDoctor

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The next - Icon type of Wynn’s decks - have a solid back color (white-bordered) with the Wynn's 'W" icon printed on either end. They were also used on the gambling table at Steve Wynn's casino, but were recalled by the USPCC (because, as they said, Wynn complained about their proclivity) and sold off through USPCC outlet store, uncancelled (so you can find them on eBay both cancelled and uncancelled).

Icon Wynns were available in Red and Blue and BROWN.

The Brown Wynn deck was just one of the Icon Bee Wynns cards, the same as all other Wynns. These cards are not and have never been Theory11 cards. They were sold once in ridiculous release windows over at Theory11 and due to this reason became the most popular and expensive among all Wynns.
« Last Edit: October 19, 2014, 09:10:39 AM by iDoctor »
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #22 on: October 19, 2014, 07:00:14 AM »
 

iDoctor

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The third - Encore type of decks - is the rarest of Wynns. This deck was created to commemorate the opening of the Encore, the Wynn's sister casino. They were made with the Wynn's 'W' icon, but diamond-backed again.

They were originally to be used in both Wynn’s casinos, but the cards could not be used at all. Why? Because the 'W' icon had been mistakenly placed in the middle of the deck, creating a one-way design.

Hence the second, funny name of this rare misprinted deck is "Oh Crap, we didn't think of that".
« Last Edit: October 19, 2014, 07:23:35 AM by iDoctor »
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #23 on: October 19, 2014, 07:01:12 AM »
 

iDoctor

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And to conclude - Icon and Signature types were available not only in three colors, but in two different indices also (Standard Index and Jumbo Index Tech Art). So there are a lot of Wynns and plenty of Browns.

That's all. Thank you!
« Last Edit: October 19, 2014, 09:09:19 AM by iDoctor »
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #24 on: October 19, 2014, 11:56:26 PM »
 

Don Boyer

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They were also used on the gambling table at Steve Wynn's casino, but were recalled by the USPCC (because, as they said, Wynn complained about their proclivity) and sold off through USPCC outlet store, uncancelled (so you can find them on eBay both cancelled and uncancelled).

Icon Wynns were available in Red and Blue and BROWN.

The Brown Wynn deck was just one of the Icon Bee Wynns cards, the same as all other Wynns. These cards are not and have never been Theory11 cards. They were sold once in ridiculous release windows over at Theory11 and due to this reason became the most popular and expensive among all Wynns.

What did you mean by "proclivity"?  Proclivity to what?  Proclivity is roughly synonymous to "tendency", as in a tendency to do something, behave a certain way, have some unexpected effect, etc.

The most noteworthy reason why Theory11 started selling the brown Wynn decks in the first place was that some cardists noticed that the cards had better handling - oddly enough, better than the other colors of the same series.  Theory11 ran out of them perhaps about two years ago, giving away the last of them during a Holiday Season purchase-based giveaway - I believe it was that if you bought at least $75 worth of merchandise with at least one shippable item, you got the Brown Wynn deck for free; other decks were available at higher purchase points while supplies lasted.

We probably have more information about it in our posts from that time period - we often run special threads just for the period between Black Friday and early January.

All in all, some excellent work, iDoctor!
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #25 on: October 27, 2014, 04:15:03 AM »
 

iDoctor

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What did you mean by "proclivity"?  Proclivity to what?  Proclivity is roughly synonymous to "tendency", as in a tendency to do something, behave a certain way, have some unexpected effect, etc.

The most noteworthy reason why Theory11 started selling the brown Wynn decks in the first place was that some cardists noticed that the cards had better handling - oddly enough, better than the other colors of the same series.  Theory11 ran out of them perhaps about two years ago, giving away the last of them during a Holiday Season purchase-based giveaway - I believe it was that if you bought at least $75 worth of merchandise with at least one shippable item, you got the Brown Wynn deck for free; other decks were available at higher purchase points while supplies lasted.

We probably have more information about it in our posts from that time period - we often run special threads just for the period between Black Friday and early January.

All in all, some excellent work, iDoctor!

Don, thank you very much for your appreciation and sorry for my poor English. It's not my native tongue and I really have difficulties in choosing of a correct words.

I was trying to say that the Icon decks became popular among Wynn Casino visitors and card collectors and had a tendency to go outside of the Casino into public hands. The Wynn Casino was not happy that so many of their "floor-used" decks had got into public hands - that was the main reason why these cards were recalled and why we could find a lot of them uncancelled.
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #26 on: October 27, 2014, 06:44:18 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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Don, thank you very much for your appreciation and sorry for my poor English. It's not my native tongue and I really have difficulties in choosing of a correct words.

I was trying to say that the Icon decks became popular among Wynn Casino visitors and card collectors and had a tendency to go outside of the Casino into public hands. The Wynn Casino was not happy that so many of their "floor-used" decks had got into public hands - that was the main reason why these cards were recalled and why we could find a lot of them uncancelled.

I suspect that might not be entirely accurate.  Nevada state gaming laws prohibit casinos from releasing decks made for use on the casino floor unless they're either canceled or the style/color is being phased out and is no longer to be used on the floor.

This is the normal life cycle of a casino deck in the state of Nevada, as I understand it - someone please correct me if I'm wrong:

If the deck design is still in use on the floor, a deck (or a stack of decks, as USPC now offers pre-shuffled stacks of up to six or eight decks) hits the floor for use.  A more modern casino will use the newer continuous-shuffle deck shoes - cards are gathered after they're played, stacked into a chute on the shoe and the cards in the shoe get shuffled with the cards in the chute, making card counting pretty much impossible, as the shuffles take place with a high rate of frequency.  Cheaper joints that can't afford that will resort to using pre-shuffled shoes of eight decks - counting isn't impossible, but it's very difficult and the shoes never get to even the half-way mark before the cards are removed, shuffled and placed in play again.  A typical deck lasts around 8 hours on the floor, give or take.

After the deck has been "consumed" by use, the decks and the empty boxes are shipped to a Nevada state prison with a special work program.  The cards are resorted into individual decks by the inmates, who then marker-up the sides of the deck, place it in a box (rarely with the jokers or barcoded control cards, since they're never floor-used) and cut a corner in a very ragged manner off the deck, box and all.  Some years back they used to drill the cards, but apparently some people found a way to make a drilled-out canceled deck look unused and started trying to swap them into play with a bit of sleight of hand.  The prisoners are heavily supervised and removing cards qualifies as possession of contraband. After sorting and boxing, these decks are either returned to the casino for souvenirs to sell or forwarded to a company like Paul-Son who sells them all over the country.

If the deck style and/or color is phased out and replaced by some new style/color, any remaining cards in the old style/color in stock are free to be sold off, still sealed in the original packaging.  They end up all over the place and are highly sought after because of their quality and rarity.  They might get sold in bulk, given to certain guests, handed out to employees, etc. but the majority are simply sold to shops which deal in casino decks - Gambler's General Store's brick-and-mortar location was one of them, before the company moved to Texas and got renamed Gambler's Warehouse.  Someone I know who used to live in Nevada tells me they frequently showed up at flea markets and swap meets; he said a patient collector could really find some gems checking those places out.
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Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #27 on: November 10, 2014, 10:16:05 AM »
 

iDoctor

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Yup I too think that the borderless green GN is from a 2-decks gift set as I have quite a couple of casino gift sets myself. Namely the MGM, Sahara (3rd ed?), Frontiers (4 boxes of One way back, still finding the Two way back design) and Dunes.


Hey, Sliverboi, I'm sure we've been right about 2-decks gift set!
I've just found another unknown Golden Nugget deck on eBay - and it's WHITE!
Look at this deck also produced by Whitman in 1977 - it's yours deck sister exactly!
« Last Edit: November 10, 2014, 10:19:21 AM by iDoctor »
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #28 on: November 10, 2014, 11:19:48 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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Call me crazy, but I don't think that was a floor-used deck.

Things like calendars and lists of poker hands and their ranks were not common for floor decks, but we're common for souvenir decks.

Again, someone correct me if I am wrong.
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #29 on: November 10, 2014, 02:09:31 PM »
 

iDoctor

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Call me crazy, but I don't think that was a floor-used deck.

Things like calendars and lists of poker hands and their ranks were not common for floor decks, but we're common for souvenir decks.

Again, someone correct me if I am wrong.

Don, I'm sure you are right - these cards are definetely from casino gift set! I've got several similar 2-decks souvenir sets from different Vegas casinos, but this one is extremely rare. Probably these were produced only once.
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Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #30 on: November 11, 2014, 03:41:08 AM »
 

runIt

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These might be the ones sliverboi is talking about. Sorry for the poor image quality, just screengrabbed from my instagram account.  ::)
« Last Edit: November 11, 2014, 03:45:07 AM by runIt »
 

Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #31 on: November 11, 2014, 04:10:44 AM »
 

iDoctor

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These might be the ones sliverboi is talking about. Sorry for the poor image quality, just screengrabbed from my instagram account.  ::)

You make me crazy!  ??? Frontier two ways design - and sealed!! A+++
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Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #32 on: November 11, 2014, 06:58:43 PM »
 

runIt

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These might be the ones sliverboi is talking about. Sorry for the poor image quality, just screengrabbed from my instagram account.  ::)

You make me crazy!  ??? Frontier two ways design - and sealed!! A+++

I was lucky to get the two-way single deck at a buy it now price. Was the bargain of the year for me.

On a side note, the auction for the used gift deck mentioned by iDoctor went well.
 

Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #33 on: November 17, 2014, 06:21:43 PM »
 

CardConjurer

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Hi,

The following link shows many interesting informations. Indeed, there are many types of golden nugget :
https://sites.google.com/site/cardconjurer/playingcards/vintagecasinoplayingcards/goldennugget

Good job from the author!

Best regards,

Bathcrew.


Sorry to bring up such an old post, but wanted to chime in. I created the website you linked many years ago. I had started compiling information on vintage casino decks here:

https://sites.google.com/site/cardconjurer/playingcards/vintagecasinoplayingcards

I honed in on the solid back designs with white borders. Many years ago that was my favorite type of deck to collect. I sold off my large collection of vintage casino decks in order to narrow the scope of my collection. Many of you may own some of my old decks.

For whatever reason, some of these vintage casino decks are mind-bogglingly rare.

Fred - not sure if you research extends to the other vintage casino decks, but the above link could be a good jumping off point for a detailed study.
--
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #34 on: November 18, 2014, 12:47:23 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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Hi,

The following link shows many interesting informations. Indeed, there are many types of golden nugget :
https://sites.google.com/site/cardconjurer/playingcards/vintagecasinoplayingcards/goldennugget

Good job from the author!

Best regards,

Bathcrew.


Sorry to bring up such an old post, but wanted to chime in. I created the website you linked many years ago. I had started compiling information on vintage casino decks here:

https://sites.google.com/site/cardconjurer/playingcards/vintagecasinoplayingcards

I honed in on the solid back designs with white borders. Many years ago that was my favorite type of deck to collect. I sold off my large collection of vintage casino decks in order to narrow the scope of my collection. Many of you may own some of my old decks.

For whatever reason, some of these vintage casino decks are mind-bogglingly rare.

Fred - not sure if you research extends to the other vintage casino decks, but the above link could be a good jumping off point for a detailed study.

I really enjoy your site!  I've used it three times today to research information about other decks!

BTW: check your data on Gemaco and Paulson - they appear to now be the property of Gaming Partners International (GPI).  I've never heard of USPC selling off a property they owned before - usually they're just absorbed into the collective!
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #35 on: November 18, 2014, 05:20:50 AM »
 

runIt

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Hi,

The following link shows many interesting informations. Indeed, there are many types of golden nugget :
https://sites.google.com/site/cardconjurer/playingcards/vintagecasinoplayingcards/goldennugget

Good job from the author!

Best regards,

Bathcrew.


Sorry to bring up such an old post, but wanted to chime in. I created the website you linked many years ago. I had started compiling information on vintage casino decks here:

https://sites.google.com/site/cardconjurer/playingcards/vintagecasinoplayingcards

I honed in on the solid back designs with white borders. Many years ago that was my favorite type of deck to collect. I sold off my large collection of vintage casino decks in order to narrow the scope of my collection. Many of you may own some of my old decks.

For whatever reason, some of these vintage casino decks are mind-bogglingly rare.

Fred - not sure if you research extends to the other vintage casino decks, but the above link could be a good jumping off point for a detailed study.

Really nice to see you again. Hope you can come here more frequently, or update the site. As there are only a handful of people I know that collect casino vintage decks.
 

Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #36 on: May 14, 2017, 04:31:00 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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The third - Encore type of decks - is the rarest of Wynns. This deck was created to commemorate the opening of the Encore, the Wynn's sister casino. They were made with the Wynn's 'W' icon, but diamond-backed again.

They were originally to be used in both Wynn’s casinos, but the cards could not be used at all. Why? Because the 'W' icon had been mistakenly placed in the middle of the deck, creating a one-way design.

Hence the second, funny name of this rare misprinted deck is "Oh Crap, we didn't think of that".

I actually have an interesting addendum to this post.

I recently visited Las Vegas as part of a two-state trip with an old school friend to commemorate the both of us turning 50 years old this year.  One of my stops was the Wynn and Encore casinos.

As it turns out, unlike other casinos on the Vegas Strip, the Wynn and Encore, both Wynn casinos, stopped selling floor-used, canceled decks in their gift shops.  Instead, they sell these two interesting decks with one-way backs, pictured below.  Both have Arrco faces, use the same jokers seen in the current "Play-Right" decks from Walgreens (which also have Arrco faces), have ad cards featuring the rules of Texas Hold 'Em and a guide to the value of poker hands and have an exceptionally generic-looking Ace of Spades with the words "The United States Playing Card Company Made In USA" under the big spade.

As you can see, one has a back design with a white-bordered photo of a stack of Wynn chips of varying denominations, topped by a purple $500 chip.  The other has a back design identical to these coveted Bee Casino playing cards that were intended for floor use but never made it to play because of their flawed, one-way design!  It would seem that the design was more popular than they'd originally thought, popular enough to warrant a second printing, albeit in modified form.

It's perhaps the only instance I've ever seen of a Bee back appearing on an Arrco face.
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Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #37 on: August 31, 2018, 05:41:09 AM »
 

lovenugget2003

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I don't think there are many vintage Vegas cards collectors .. The story of these cards is not well known and nowadays many people prefer collecting newer cards mostly because it's less expensive and we can buy more and play with them  :)

I have 2nd generation brown and red hotel and casino, what would be interesting is a list of all decks you have with the code of the ace of spades .. to be able to feed the survey i could give you an access ..

Send me a PM and we'll be able to study that ..

About the purple Carson City i have only seen it once but i never really studied these cards.


sorry for bring up this post again, but I can't any updated post to discuss Vegas Casino cards.
I'm a vintage Vegas cards collector from Hong Kong

I really want to say that Carson City Nugget is too less even Green and Brown. 8)
 

Re: History of golden nugget
« Reply #38 on: August 31, 2018, 05:49:49 AM »
 

lovenugget2003

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The only one idea cames to me. As this deck is wrapped in individual transparent cello, it might be a part of a 2-decks gift set. Similar sets were in use at that days in Vegas casinos, including Silver Slipper (their set had blue and green cards) and MGM Grand (brown and gold cards). All these cards were individually wrapped in cello and had a common paper box for 2 decks (sample photo attached).

Hey iDoctor, maybe you might want to check on your attached files? It seems to no work for me. Yup I too think that the borderless green GN is from a 2-decks gift set as I have quite a couple of casino gift sets myself. Namely the MGM, Sahara (3rd ed?), Frontiers (4 boxes of One way back, still finding the Two way back design) and Dunes.

I am definitely interested in looking at what's inside the purp Carson City Nugget deck. Please try to re-upload the photos again  ;)

And also its been my pleasure too to know vintage casino cards collectors like you because comparing vintage card collectors and modern cards collectors, vintage collectors are really little.

Cheers,
sliverboi

Hi, Silverboi
It's done (I've reduced photo file sizes), hope everithing is Ok now. I've also sent you photo via mail to be sure.
Yours, iDoctor

P.S. I've found one purple GN sold on eBay in 2012 ($649). Photo attached.
[/quote]


In 2012, is my second year just collect the Vegas Cards.
I saw this purple GN on ebay. However, my friends and some great great collector from Taiwan said that they are sure is there any purple GN in GN series. They said the purple GN may be a blue GN place under sunlight for a long long time.
So I miss that in 2012, I was so depressed until now.
I'm never seen sealed purple GN from 2012, hope I could get one before leave this world. :-[
 

Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #39 on: December 21, 2019, 02:32:14 PM »
 

54kPlaya

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Wasn't sure if I should post on this old thread, but since this is about the history of casino decks here some of my new acquisitions.

Those are Aristocrat Club Special new sealed decks, printed in 2009 in Kentucky . Aristocrat club special casino decks are considered by many as one of the best deck printed by the uspcc in term of handling and overall quality, experienced second deal dealers loves them.
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Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #40 on: December 21, 2019, 02:34:05 PM »
 

54kPlaya

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One more pic.
My rep is so cool that it has to be under 0, now think about that!
 

Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #41 on: February 14, 2021, 08:54:14 AM »
 

Worldvision620

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Is there a reference for old vintage casino cards? I have seen the wonderful info for the Jerry's Nugget decks but what about all the other casino decks the where printed backed then? Thank you all for the Hospitality....Scott
 

Re: History of Casino Decks
« Reply #42 on: February 24, 2021, 05:21:03 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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Is there a reference for old vintage casino cards? I have seen the wonderful info for the Jerry's Nugget decks but what about all the other casino decks the where printed backed then? Thank you all for the Hospitality....Scott

The amount of information there is out there on casino decks could easily fill an encyclopedia, I'm sure.  Just use a simple rule of thumb or two.

First - search.  The topic you're interested in might already exist.
Second - if it doesn't exist, how old is the deck in question?  We have a board for modern decks (the Playing Card Plethora) and another for vintage and antique decks (A Cellar of Fine Vintages).  The difference is that anything less than about 20 years old is modern, everything that's older is at least vintage if not antique.
Third - once you've determined the appropriate place to ask, go ahead and ask.  Make a new topic.
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