Kling Magnetic Playing Cards

[athomas16]

Estate sale find for $5.  52+ two jokers, excellent condition and quite heavy.  Pictured below on the magnetic board.  Looks like a gimmick that just didn't quite catch on, although the cards feel pretty good in the hand, and might be fun to develop some tricks with.

I would guess they are from the 1950's.  Am I way off?  Do you see this deck very often?

[ecNate]

Funny, I just stumbled on these at PCDB earlier this week and was curious about them.

https://playingcarddb.com/dbdeck?id=2552&name=magnetic-kling-steel-green
https://playingcarddb.com/dbdeck?id=2551&name=magnetic-cards-of-california

Turns out, they are actually still around, but as you'll note from their website they started in 1963 so your deck is likely 60s or maybe 70s.
http://www.kling.com/magnetic_cards.html

[Don Boyer]

Turns out, they are actually still around, but as you'll note from their website they started in 1963 so your deck is likely 60s or maybe 70s.
http://www.kling.com/magnetic_cards.html

I noticed something downright bizarre.  These cards were advertised here as being "a classic game since 1963!"  But on the company's "About Us" page, they state that the company was founded...in 1984!

Furthermore, the card to order additional decks is lacking a ZIP code - the ZIP code system was put in effect on a voluntary basis in 1963, became mandatory for bulk mailers in 1967 and was widely adopted by the rest of the country not long thereafter.

A lightbulb just went off in my head.  If you look closer on that same ZIP-less card, you notice that the company name then and now DON'T match.  Kling Magnetics, Inc. is NOT the company that made this deck, but IS the company that makes the modern version of it, probably because they bought the rights from the original owner of the brand, Regal & Wade Manufacturing of "Maspeth 78", New York.  That code was a predecessor to the ZIP code - if a city was small, you used the city name, but if it was larger, the city could be divided into postal zones, each represented as a number following the city name.

So, it looks like for this exact deck, it was made not by Kling Magnetics but by Regal & Wade.  It was not made before 1963, but it was probably made before the '60s ended, since by that time ZIP codes were more widely used.  With Maspeth being a suburb of New York City, a place so populous that a single building can be an entire ZIP code to itself, I'd think it unlikely that this or any other of the suburbs around it would have delayed adoption of ZIP codes into the 1970s.

[athomas16]

That is the kind of detective work I have come to expect from you Don!  Good work.

As an aside, last weekend my step-son (Taylor) had a sleep over for his 12th birthday.  One of the other kids taught him how to throw playing cards and he was instantly addicted.  I told him that Chris Ferguson could cut a banana in half with a thrown card, so he has a goal.  I realize that in roughly 99.99% of households, throwing playing cards can be a fun activity that doesn't result in wild fluctuations in Net Worth.  As for the members here, I'm sure you have at least a few decks you'd prefer not see repurposed into projectiles...

Yesterday afternoon I come home with this magnetic deck, showed it to Taylor, and before I could stop him, King of Hearts is flying across the room.  My wife, who was was a disinterested 3rd party in the matter, did a good job of keeping the peace and restoring my blood pressure to something on the high end of normal.  The King seems to have come through the incident unscathed, as did Taylor, but it was a near thing.  I didn't have illusions that this was a particularly valuable deck, but I did, in a somewhat raised voice, declare Executive Proclamation #619, which states:  If playing cards must be thrown, members of our family are strongly encouraged to toss only cards manufactured in their year of birth or after.

Based on the dating system above, it looks like this deck enjoyed a peaceful existence for roughly 50 years, ended within hours of my purchasing it.

[Don Boyer]

That is the kind of detective work I have come to expect from you Don!  Good work.

As an aside, last weekend my step-son (Taylor) had a sleep over for his 12th birthday.  One of the other kids taught him how to throw playing cards and he was instantly addicted.  I told him that Chris Ferguson could cut a banana in half with a thrown card, so he has a goal.  I realize that in roughly 99.99% of households, throwing playing cards can be a fun activity that doesn't result in wild fluctuations in Net Worth.  As for the members here, I'm sure you have at least a few decks you'd prefer not see repurposed into projectiles...

Yesterday afternoon I come home with this magnetic deck, showed it to Taylor, and before I could stop him, King of Hearts is flying across the room.  My wife, who was was a disinterested 3rd party in the matter, did a good job of keeping the peace and restoring my blood pressure to something on the high end of normal.  The King seems to have come through the incident unscathed, as did Taylor, but it was a near thing.  I didn't have illusions that this was a particularly valuable deck, but I did, in a somewhat raised voice, declare Executive Proclamation #619, which states:  If playing cards must be thrown, members of our family are strongly encouraged to toss only cards manufactured in their year of birth or after.

Based on the dating system above, it looks like this deck enjoyed a peaceful existence for roughly 50 years, ended within hours of my purchasing it.

That "no cards older than you" rule will work fine for protecting vintage cards, but what about all the new limited-edition decks?  The club deck isn't even a year old yet, was rather costly, would be hard to replace and (most importantly) I wouldn't exactly want my stepson flinging them around the apartment... 

Now what you SHOULD do is get him a special deck - "Banshees," developed by Jason Brumbalow for Murphy's Magic Supplies.  They're plastic cards, no suits or values, but specifically designed for throwing practice.  One side is marked with concentric rings for measuring penetration depth and two of the opposing corners have special slits cut into them which generate a nice whistling sound when thrown well (hence the colorful model name).  I do caution that you have him aim at soft targets - the cards will chip if tossed at something hard.

Murphy's is a wholesale distributor, probably the biggest one in this country for magic supplies - check with pretty much any decently-equipped magic shop and if they aren't in stock, they can probably order them.

[athomas16]

Thanks!  Good idea.