Pokerstud52's decks are the ones printed by Dealing Deuces. For a while, DD was wrapping decks in gold foil and sticking a numbered seal on the wrapper, thinking this would enhance the value. It all came tumbling down when he created "custom" versions of Ace Fulton's Casino decks with the gold wrap treatment and the tuck box logo printed on a clear sticker attached to the foil. Buyers were freaking out, thinking it was a new edition by Dan and Dave - which they came out and categorically denied as being an edition they created. We stopped hearing from him here - which was good in the end because his popularity plummeted through the floor into the basement. His prices were always costly... But enough tangent.
The white version created by Kevin Reylek, proprietor of New York Magic Project, is actually a good-quality deck and holds up well. I think it uses Bicycle stock, but not the downgraded stock they now use on mass-produced Bicycles. It was the first Arrco deck to have Magic Finish.
As far as the decks being Bee stock, traditionally cut and having gold seals - he doesn't need to be Richard Turner to find these features desirable. Every deck Bill Kalush made with USPC was Bee Casino stock and traditionally cut. USPC hates doing traditionally cut cards because it adds and extra step to the manufacturing process - I know of a card designer who was discouraged from ordering that cut because USPC claimed the edges turn out too rough, this despite the fact that none of Bill's old USPC decks ever had a rough edge. This is a deck clearly being target to magicians, and the features are ones that magicians find desirable. I also love the straight-forward nature of the campaign - no T-shirts, no coins, no dice, no extra bric-a-brac, just the cards.
I'm a bit intrigued by the fact that one of the photos shows him executing a face-down faro shuffle with a pack of blue Arrcos, implying that he's holding a pack of traditionally-cut cards. If they're not vintage from the early 1980s or older, it sounds to me like the project's already completed and he's just looking for a way to defray the costs.
Personally, if this was my project, I'd privately fund it and sell it online and through retail. It's how Kevin Reylek sold his white Arrcos, and that seemed to go rather smoothly.
There's one thing about the project that gives me a whole lot of pause. A single pack of these is $12. A brick is $85, or barely over $7 a pack. Today, right now, I can buy a single pack from pokerstud52 for a mere $5.95 for a PAIR, albeit without the Bee stock and traditional cut, and bricks are only $28.95, or nearly $2.50 a pack. It's a bit pricey for what amounts design-wise to an entry-level deck, not even requiring a designer - I could call Tiffany today, order these Arrcos and ask for the upgraded stock, special cut and gold seals, no need to send a single graphics file because they're being made identically to the standard issue in terms of what's being printed. (Oh, and I can ask for identical black-and-white jokers, too.) It's not an art deck, it's not even a custom deck - it's a basic deck in terms of its design, meant to be a working deck for magicians, but priced like something from Encarded or Midnight (that's not a knock at you guys, because you make decks that are worth the price). The Richard Turner Bicycles he references are less expensive than these Arrcos he's planning to reprint.
As attractive a deck as the Arrco design may be, at that price, it's too much - especially when alternatives abound.
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