Many of you know Im new to decks, but collect Zippos. With Zippo's there seems to always be a bit of backstory to one, if not a few, pieces in a collection. Be it my Grandfather had one like this in WWII, or my Uncle carried one in Vietnam, my Dad used to have one, or something as simple as "This was the 1st in my collection"

So what decks, if any, have some "Personal Value" to you? Something you learned your 1st trick or flurish on, maybe a deck you remember haveing as a kid, or that 1st poker game?

Let's hear some stories and include pics if you can!

At the moment mine is the Bicycle Limeted Edition 1....It's the 1st deck that I cracked open and started practicing cardesty on, I cary the deck with me pretty much all day and when Im on my lunch break or just sitting around it's in my hand and I just practice my cuts.....over and over and over, I'll get this yet, lol

So with any new hobby/collection your point of reference is when you begin, I'm noticing, just like anything else, there are these so called "Must Have" decks out there that people mention. Now I'm not one who has to have everything, or willing to pay anything, but I am one who likes to at least know what those must haves are just in case a deal of a lifetime drops in my lap or I see one on some random retailers shelf. This is part of my research, I hate just buying for the sake of buying.

I know there are a lot of decks and I know its largely based on ones personal preference, but I was wondering if you all could tell me what YOUR favorite/must haves from the past, lets say, 5 years, what would they be? Not a top 10 or anything long and drawn out, but tell me what your top 3 of the last 5 years would be. I'll use the stranded on a desert island analogy...if you were stranded and could ONLY take 3 decks with you, which ones would they be?

I do appreciate the information and being around here for just a short time I've been introduced to some amazing decks that I probably would have never come across on my own, I'm trying not to be THAT new guy asking "What should I buy", just trying to see what WAS out there in the recent past that might be of interest.

There is a method to my madness and I hope I'm not recycling information that was already discussed...I did check as best I could 

I'm looking for a 2nd Zippo deck to add to my collection to crack open. I have a sealed one so I'm fine with an open deck as long as it's complete and in good condition.

Thanks

My name is Anthony and I'm an avid Zippo collector...I know, this is a playing card forum. I'm from Huntley Illinois which is just about an hour west of Chicago. How a Zippo brought me here....My passion for Zippo's came from the art and creativity found in them, I have a graphics and art background and just found them fascinating. Recently a friend sent me a Zippo and along with it a pack of Bicycle playing cards with images and art by Anne Stokes, one of my favorite fantasy artists. Needless to say, I was hooked. I flashed back to my early Zippo days when a lighter was a lighter and until just recently, a deck of cards was a deck of cards. I've been poking around here and there looking for some education into my new found hobby and came across your site.

I'm one of those collectors who just loves digging deep into information so I hope I don't make anyone crazy with "Noob" questions, it's always nice to discuss your passion with others like yourself so I'm hoping to get to know you current members a little better over time.

Not so strangely, looking into information on Playing Cards brought me to a lot of information on Magic, I'm a big fan, always have been. While grand illusion is quite amazing, I've always loved slight of hand and  card tricks much more. Something about the "Up close and personal" is just amazing.

Anyway, that's a little about myself, looking forward to participating on the site!

T