Greetings everyone! I'm Mike and I currently live in Southern Oregon. I have been a collector for most of my life and have started major collections of Matchbox Regular Wheel cars, Hot Wheels, contemporary marbles and paperweights, the 1939 San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition, and miscellaneous ephemera including advertising, military ephemera and large letter linen postcards.Most recently I have been focusing on expanding my playing card collection. I have always enjoyed the art displayed on vintage playing cards so originally, most of my collection consisted of decks from the Austrian playing card company Piatnik. But, I was also fortunate that my garage sale wife would occasionally bring home advertising decks, souvenir decks as well as any other playing cards that she thought might stimulate my interest. Last year, my son and I visited a gaming shop in Seattle, Washington and I noticed a deck of cards that grabbed my attention. The shop employee told me about the "new" wave of artists that were expanding into the playing card arena. He also told me about Kickstarter and I immediately became hooked on backing projects that satisfied my appetite for mind boggling designs! As my playing card collection has now grown to over 250 decks, I decided it was time to expand my knowledge and eventually found the 52 Plus Joker Club, Ask Alexander (after I purchased the deck) and this PCF. I love the fact that this community is open to newbies and I'm looking forward to attending future conventions and getting the opportunity to meet other members as well as the new creators of this wonderful medium. I hope you all are successful in your hunt for new card magic, cardistry, and my favorite area: PCAS - Playing Card Acquisition Syndrome! Sorry for the winded post. Good Night!
Mike