Ankh Playing Cards by ARK Playing Cards (Kickstarter)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cardcollection/ankh-playing-cards-by-ark

Current funding level: already funded
Kickstarter ends: Tuesday, May 28, 2024

ARK Playing Cards is one of the foremost creators of luxury playing cards in recent years, and they are highly regarded for their lavish production and creative tuck boxes.  Their newest project is Ankh Playing Cards and is currently being funded on Kickstarter. 



This deck is named after the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol ankh, which represents life.  Ancient Egyptian religion was fixated on their ideas about life and about the afterlife, and these provide the inspiration for this new deck.

An elaborate tuck case immediately captures this Egyptian theme.  ARK's previous project, Apollo Playing Cards, was inspired by the Greek sun god Apollo, and featured a unique tuck case with a pop-out feature that could unfold and rotate to form a complete circle to depict the sun which the god Apollo was all about.  In a similar way, Ankh Playing Cards has an ideal and unique tuck case, because it unfolds to create a pyramid structure, which perfectly matches the Egyptian theme that inspired this deck.  This animated gif does a good job of showing what this effect looks like:



The pyramid is immediately recognizable as an Egyptian icon, and the case opens up to create this triangular structure.  The mechanism relies on a nested structure of six layers, with hidden sliding tracks and pivots that ensure it opens and closes smoothly.

The artwork on the cards combines handdrawn and digital techniques, drawing upon Egyptian mythology and historical murals, in a distinctly classical Egyptian style.



The card faces depict the different gods of ancient Egypt, and various aspects of their mythology and religion, with illustations and motifs found throughout all aspects of the deck.





Much like we've seen with previous ARK projects, this project is available with different levels and styles of luxury packaging:
● Standard Deck (limited edition of 3333): single deck, including the creative pop-out pyramid tuck case (US$30)
● Artist Boxset (limited edition of 999): holographic foil deck & monochromatic deck, in a gift box with a book (US$75)
● Walnut Boxset (limited edition of 333): holographic foil gold deck with gilded edges, plus a collectible coin, in a walnut gift box (US$185)
● Luxury Black (limited edition of 99): black-edged deck, plus an embossed metal plate (US$150, only available as part of the "All-In" reward)



Extra add-ons like uncut sheets and coins are also available separately.  Here's a preview of how each of the above four packaging and deck options look.

1. Standard Deck

This is a limited edition of 3333 decks, all with individually numbered seals, and is the base level deck, but includes the creative pyramid themed tuck case.

Tuck case





Cards











2. Artist Box set

These 999 box sets (again individually numbered) consist of a special gift box that includes a book, and two decks: a holo deck with the special pyramid tuck case, and a second special deck which is more monochromatic in colour and style.

Box







Holo deck











Special deck





Book



3. Walnut Box set

The Walnut Box set is limited to 333 copies, all individually numbered, and in a stunning wooden display box with a pyramid shape.  The deck included is a gold deck with holographic foil and gilded edges, and there's also a collectible coin.

Box







Gold deck











Coin



4. Luxury Black set

Only 99 individually numbered Luxury Black sets are available, and you can only get this with the "all in" option.  This is a black deck   (with black edges) that has white artwork and design, and comes with a numbered embossed metal plate.

Black deck







Metal plate



Head over to the project page for more pictures of these extravagant collectors pieces.

Kickstarter link

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cardcollection/ankh-playing-cards-by-ark

thank you for this information Toby.  Great to see the Joker and Box for the first variant which I don't recall having ever seen previously!

This post will serve as both an introduction and a correction/revision to two of the current listings in the latest Bollhagen Railroad Playing Cards reference book.
The first photograph below shows both the back design and the Ace of Spades for what I believe to be a previously unknown, or at least unlisted, deck issued by De La Rue of England for the Canadian Pacific Railway which may also be the earliest. This back design shows a pair of crossed flags with the intertwined CPR logo below them on a borderless white background. Based upon the tiny "1" indices on the aces and, after checking with the wopc.co.uk website, it appears that this Ace of Spades was issued circa 1885-1890. Unfortunately, I do not have an original box for this deck to show here.
Now we come to a pair of corrections regarding the actual dates of issue for two of the Canadian Pacific Railway listings in Bollhagen (please see the second photograph of the two back designs in question). These are designated as CP-9 circa 1910 and CP-10 circa 1920 and both are assigned a rarity of V.5 which means "very difficult to locate." Based upon my own experience, I actually believe these to be much tougher to find and should merit a rarity of at least V.6 which means "rare."
The back design shown on the right of the second photograph with the same crossed flags and CPR logo but with a red border, represents the CP-9 listing and, based upon the third photograph of the Ace of Spades and joker from this deck, we can see that the actual issue date for this deck should be some 20 years earlier circa 1890. This is because these two cards are from the earliest version of the Treasury No. 89 brand by The Russell & Morgan Printing Company found in the Dawson/Hochman encyclopedia listed under US18-1 which we know to have been introduced in that same year. The fourth photograph shows the original box which houses this deck and it is the same kind of cloth slipcase in which other early brands were issued by RMP.
The reversible back design shown on the left of the second photograph with the same crossed flags but with the CPR logo now above them, represents the CP-10 listing and this deck was made using a later version of the Treasury No. 89 brand by USPC. The original box for this deck is shown in the fifth photograph and the joker is the standard design for this brand shown in the encyclopedia under the US-18-2 listing but with the earlier thin "US" indices in the corners. The tax stamp appears to have a cancellation date of 1902 and so, this issue date, too, should be approximately 20 years earlier than the 1920 date currently shown in the Bollhagen reference.

Childhood Playing Cards by TCC & Lunzi

https://tccplayingcard.com/products/childhood-playing-cards-by-tcc-lunzi

A playing card army inspired by Alice in Wonderland



The debut project of the "Smooth Writing" series was called Room52 Playing Cards.  Produced by TCC Playing Cards, it is the work of Lunzi, who is a card flourisher and the lead illustrator of the luxury brand ARK Playing Cards.  Now Lunzi has just released his second project, called Childhood Playing Cards.





It's inspired by Lewis Carroll's classic work Alice in Wonderland, with Lunzi opting to make the playing card soldiers from the story a central aspect of the design.  All the illustrations have been drawn by hand.







Besides the main deck, dubbed the Childhood Standard Edition, there is also a Childhood Special Edition, which is limited to just 700 decks. 



The Special Edition's tuck box draws on the Cheshire Cat, and is made with what TCC describes as "Mirage Grating material".  The basic idea is that depending on the angle you look at the deck, you'll either see the Cheshire Cat or just its grin.   You can see what this visual effect looks like in this video.





The Cheshire Cat's grin also features on the card backs of the Special Edition. 





Purchases of a half brick (6 decks) include with an upgraded Special Edition, which is limited to just 300 decks, and has gilded edges.





These two decks are a delightful way to pay tribute to a true classic of children's literature!





Link: https://tccplayingcard.com/products/childhood-playing-cards-by-tcc-lunzi

These were originally produced on Kickstarter, but have now been released, and are available directly from TCC's website here:

Room52 Playing Cards by TCC & Lunzi

https://tccplayingcard.com/products/room52-playing-cards-by-tcc-lunzi

Here's how the red deck looks - I particularly like the "door" on the back of the tuck box and on the back of the cards.







The cards themselves have a very retro or vintage look, which I personally find very appealing.







Here's the Silver deck:







The faces of these are more muted, and the reduced colour scheme arguably creates new beauty:





The half-brick set comes with stickers, and an upgraded version of the silver deck, with silver edges.