Post Your Vintage Collection - Your Newest & Most Prized Acquisitions

[Don Boyer]

Great haul.  I love how NorthWestern Rail managed to get a bikini-clad girl onto the back of a railroad-themed deck!

[52plusjoker]

Great haul.  I love how NorthWestern Rail managed to get a bikini-clad girl onto the back of a railroad-themed deck!

Great haul is right. These are all neat and collectable decks. I like the Elks and don't see it hardly ever. There are lots of neat RR decks and it is a great area to collect. Competitive because of all the RR general collectors.

[Josh Blackmon]

Great haul.  I love how NorthWestern Rail managed to get a bikini-clad girl onto the back of a railroad-themed deck!

No kidding. Way to go Chicago NW! All kidding aside, whoever conceptualized the decks for Chicago Northwestern back in the day did a stellar job. Wheras most other railroad decks focus on the train itself, theirs seem to highlight the dynamics of the people in the scene as they acknowledge the train rolling by. Really neat decks. My favorite (which I haven't acquired yet) is a scene of a man and two boys in a workshop watching the train go by in the distance. Little slices of Americana which are really well done.

[Josh Blackmon]

Great haul is right. These are all neat and collectable decks. I like the Elks and don't see it hardly ever. There are lots of neat RR decks and it is a great area to collect. Competitive because of all the RR general collectors.

I almost let the Elks deck slide before going ahead and purchasing it. I had never seen it before and could not find any internet information on it. I finally ran across an original newspaper article from 1933 referencing the tournament itself and decided to get them because they were so unique and I wasn't sure to see them again. The $10 investment did not disappoint! the AOS code matches up, and the cards are virtually unplayed. Very clean box and cards which I am glad to have.

[Mike Ratledge]

I put my $12 on Great Northern. Strange how so much shows up after so few for a long time. As usual, as soon as I looked at the picture I thought "should have gotten a back with Julia Wades-on-Water in the groupong", but. . .

[52plusjoker]

Great haul is right. These are all neat and collectable decks. I like the Elks and don't see it hardly ever. There are lots of neat RR decks and it is a great area to collect. Competitive because of all the RR general collectors.

I almost let the Elks deck slide before going ahead and purchasing it. I had never seen it before and could not find any internet information on it. I finally ran across an original newspaper article from 1933 referencing the tournament itself and decided to get them because they were so unique and I wasn't sure to see them again. The $10 investment did not disappoint! the AOS code matches up, and the cards are virtually unplayed. Very clean box and cards which I am glad to have.

Ha! Ha! I would not have even made a $9 offer - just hand over the $10 bill and stick the deck in my bag.!

How come you haven't joined 52 Plus Joker? We'd love to have you do so and of course come to the October convention in Charleston.

[Rob Wright]

Recent "old" stuff

[52plusjoker]

Very nice - especially like the two old 'brick' boxes. The Dougherty dates late 1890's and the Fauntleroy maybe slightly earlier.

[Magasaki]

Hi Guys,

I recently acquired a deck entitled 'Correspondances' that I found interesting. It has taken a fair amount of google translating and researching for me to understand the full concept behind the deck so I though I'd share my findings with you. If anyone has any information / corrections please let me know.

The deck carries the name Baptiste Paul Grimaud who was a card maker in the 19th Century, however this deck was manufactured in 1985 by France Cartes. I believe the Grimaud family continued to have involvement in card making or at least the name was used by France Cartes up until later in the 20th C. However I cannot find any record of the name still being used.

The deck is based around Parisian life and focuses on the Metropolitan rail system. Conveniently there was (at the time) 52 stations on 13 lines of the Metropolitan network and these are represented on the 52 cards and 13 indexes / numbers of the deck. More interestingly the artists (Laurence Caiazzo / Pica-Cicero-Scop) say to have taken into consideration for the design of each card; the station itself, the traditional meaning of the colour and suite, the symbolism of the number and the culture, activities and historical significance of the architecture and inhabitants of the area.

Additionally the 2 jokers are 'dedicated to the city' and 1 represents a new proposed station at the time (Saint Michel) and the other represents the symbolic and geographic center of Paris (Column Astrologique du Catheine de Medici).

I love finding decks that have an interesting story behind them. One of the best parts of collecting is learning something new about history / culture and influence into design work. Especially if it is of architectural and social significance. Please, if anyone has any more information about this deck or those involved in its creation please let me know. I have attached images to this post (and the next) and will be continuing with research on each station to see how the artist has interpreted all of the considerations above.

Image links below:
Clubs: http://imgur.com/TkxnGHr
Diamonds: http://imgur.com/LGWEBPs
Hearts: http://imgur.com/MK1i0mE
Spades: http://imgur.com/QqWy9f4

EDIT: I see this got moved to vintage - apologies I will try get the right board next time! - Tom

[Don Boyer]

Magasaki, I hope you don't mind, but I moved your deck post to the "show your collection" topic in A Cellar of Fine Vintages.  Considering it's nearly four decades old, it certainly qualifies!

The general rule of thumb that we're using is if it's older than twenty years, it's vintage.  I can't recall if we nailed down a number for antique, but I'd ballpark it as being anything older than perhaps 80 years - so for today, vintage is pre-1994 and antique is pre-1934!  I daresay we should create a category for anything "prebellum" or dating back to before the Civil War, as people do manage to get (as some cost) a number of decks made in that time frame.  In the 19th-Century antebellum years, many innovations in playing cards that you'd recognize today came into being, most notably the index, the joker and rounded corners.

My ranges aren't iron-clad, but they give you at least an idea of where to start.

BTW: that is a REALLY nice-looking deck - don't suppose you could post more photos/scans for us? 

[52plusjoker]

Magasaki, I hope you don't mind, but I moved your deck post to the "show your collection" topic in A Cellar of Fine Vintages.  Considering it's nearly four decades old, it certainly qualifies!

The general rule of thumb that we're using is if it's older than twenty years, it's vintage.  I can't recall if we nailed down a number for antique, but I'd ballpark it as being anything older than perhaps 80 years - so for today, vintage is pre-1994 and antique is pre-1934!  I daresay we should create a category for anything "prebellum" or dating back to before the Civil War, as people do manage to get (as some cost) a number of decks made in that time frame.  In the 19th-Century antebellum years, many innovations in playing cards that you'd recognize today came into being, most notably the index, the joker and rounded corners.

My ranges aren't iron-clad, but they give you at least an idea of where to start.

BTW: that is a REALLY nice-looking deck - don't suppose you could post more photos/scans for us? 

A simple concept is Vintage is over 20 years old and antique is pre-WWI.
Correspondances - Nice deck - I have never seen it before.

[Magasaki]

Another Grimaud deck, this time from 1983. each court card / ace has an illustration and accompanying story which adds up to the narrative of the life of the Montgolfier brothers and the invention of the hot air balloon. '83 was the centenary of the first flight so it is a commemorative deck.

[52plusjoker]

Cool. By accident a few years ago driving in France we saw a sign for a castle which had been the home of the Montgolfier family and commemorated the hot air balloon flights. We did a quick visit but it was very crowded and we moved on.

[Josh Blackmon]

A deck of Congress cards I acquired a few weeks back. Early 1900s called spinning wheel. The back design is not really my cup of tea, but I am happy about that Ace of Spades! Notice the way I took the photos all angled and and artsy.

[52plusjoker]

One of my favourite Aces from the Congress brand. Neat to have a Congress with matching Joker. Most Congress have a standard Joker and are named on the back. A few had named Jokers which matched the back and there was no name on the back. A bit of Congress trivia!

[Cryptocard27]

Since I have the Hochman Encyclopedia, I really wanted to have the Hockey #7 deck, mainly because of the great Joker. With a little luck, I won a Near Mint copy on eBay the last year, with two other antique Pinochle decks, at a very good price. I hope you will appreciate it.

[1greeneyedwonderwoman]

I figure I'd start off posting a few pics of one of my favorite vintage decks… 1800's Steamboats with Watermelon Joker…

Gorgeous cards!

[ecNate]

While I did also pick up Rarebits, Run and a few others, the big news for me is I picked up another white whale, Vanity Fair No 41 from 1895.  It's not a complete deck though, which means it's not as valuable and really the only way I could every justify having a copy, so it works for me.  Being almost 120 years old it's the oldest non reproduction deck in my collection and shockingly is a bit clumpy.   

PCDB Entry
WOPC Entry

[torcams]

Recently acquired this gem of a deck - Hochman/Dawson SX11 - a special version of the SX8 Columbian Exposition souvenir deck from Winters Art Litho. Co. with 2 special cards (pictured) from the Hayner Distilling Company of Springfield Ohio and given out at the fair.

Note the price list - in 1893 the "good stuff" was $6 a gallon!!

[52plusjoker]

very nice deck and you don't see it very often. Exposition decks with advertising are relatively unusual and command a good price.

[ecNate]

I really need to get a proper little lighting tent and lights...

Anyhow, I finally picked up that Eagle 5 suit deck from USPCC I've been talking about lately here and at UC.  I just love the eagle pips on these, even if this particular deck isn't in the greatest of shape it's pretty good for a 70+ year old deck.

[Magasaki]

Magasaki, I hope you don't mind, but I moved your deck post to the "show your collection" topic in A Cellar of Fine Vintages.  Considering it's nearly four decades old, it certainly qualifies!

The general rule of thumb that we're using is if it's older than twenty years, it's vintage.  I can't recall if we nailed down a number for antique, but I'd ballpark it as being anything older than perhaps 80 years - so for today, vintage is pre-1994 and antique is pre-1934!  I daresay we should create a category for anything "prebellum" or dating back to before the Civil War, as people do manage to get (as some cost) a number of decks made in that time frame.  In the 19th-Century antebellum years, many innovations in playing cards that you'd recognize today came into being, most notably the index, the joker and rounded corners.

My ranges aren't iron-clad, but they give you at least an idea of where to start.

BTW: that is a REALLY nice-looking deck - don't suppose you could post more photos/scans for us? 

I know this is a follow up to an old post, but in case you're interested I translated the booklet from French to English (the best I could) and have uploaded all the translations for each card and the concept for the 13 indexes at the link below. Just roll your mouse over each card to read the transcript.

http://www.magasaki.com/#!correspondances/c12yo

[Magasaki]

Another Grimaud deck, this time from 1983. each court card / ace has an illustration and accompanying story which adds up to the narrative of the life of the Montgolfier brothers and the invention of the hot air balloon. '83 was the centenary of the first flight so it is a commemorative deck.

I also translated the Montgolfiers deck which reads as a narrative of the early years of the hot air balloon. Some awesome stories in the artwork of these. Transcripts are on my site here http://www.magasaki.com/#!les-montgolfieres/c1grj

[Magasaki]

While I did also pick up Rarebits, Run and a few others, the big news for me is I picked up another white whale, Vanity Fair No 41 from 1895.  It's not a complete deck though, which means it's not as valuable and really the only way I could every justify having a copy, so it works for me.  Being almost 120 years old it's the oldest non reproduction deck in my collection and shockingly is a bit clumpy.   

PCDB Entry
WOPC Entry

That's stunning ecNate. Really really like this one. Good find.

[52plusjoker]

While I did also pick up Rarebits, Run and a few others, the big news for me is I picked up another white whale, Vanity Fair No 41 from 1895.  It's not a complete deck though, which means it's not as valuable and really the only way I could every justify having a copy, so it works for me.  Being almost 120 years old it's the oldest non reproduction deck in my collection and shockingly is a bit clumpy.   

PCDB Entry
WOPC Entry

That's stunning ecNate. Really really like this one. Good find.

An early transformation is always a neat find. The idea now is to keep 'trading' up. You find a slightly better one, sell this one, repeat, etc. It's surprising how often that can be accomplished without large [net] expenditure. We started out with a similar Murphy Varnish [Judy's favorite deck] and over maybe 20 years worked our way up to near mint through several iterations. Think our net cost is very low as we managed to make some profit on a couple of the sales.