Wow so beautiful!

This topic has been moved to The Conversation Parlor.

https://www.playingcardforum.com/index.php?topic=14052.0

Hey all!  I'm an old school kind of guy, so while I'm sure there is a Facebook group or something for this, I can't resist the archived knowledge of a forum.  I've been collecting decks for a few years now and I'm looking forward to reading all about what you guys have tracked down.  My dream would be to have a wall of cards that just runs through every deck from Ellusionist and Theory 11, but that is clearly going to take a long time.  I just think it would make fantastic decoration.  Right now I just have one wall display that holds 60 or so decks and that seems to do the trick to display my sealed ones that have meaning.

I do have a little bit of OCD, so card collecting is a challenge.  When I find out that there are different versions or variations of a deck, I have to have them all.  This has gotten expensive at times and I'm really trying to control it now.  Especially when some of these decks run 40 or 50 bucks (or more!) to get the variation/version I'm missing.  I did just pick up a sealed v1 Black Ghost that I'm pretty pleased with, but now I'm on the hunt for a v2 white ghost to finish that series off.  I'm trying to find an Ohio printed blue deck for the Bicycle 1800 cards too. 

Actually, if anyone reads this, I have a question on those.  How can you tell if you have the marked version or unmarked version without opening the deck?  For example, I have an Ohio and KY version of the red deck, but I have no idea which one is marked.  I don't know if anyone does, so even looking online to buy them is tricky because none of the sellers on ebay seem to know this was even a marked deck at all.

Anyway, good to be here and if anyone is in the DFW area and wants to talk cards, hit me up!  I'd love to know where you are finding yours.  I have a great source of cards up in McKinney from a guy I met on ebay if you are looking for recommendations. 

Hi, and sorry for the late reply!


Re White Ghost - As far as I know, Ellusionist made only one version of the Bicycle White Ghost deck.  Black Ghost came first, and was originally only available as a giveaway for celebrity magicians, then was a premium for making certain purchases - V2 came when V1 became really popular and people clamored to buy them.  White Ghost, never being made as a premium like the Black Ghost V1, only ever came in a single version.  Some people might get fussy about "oh, but what about this slight change from one print one to the next?", but you can drive yourself insane chasing different print runs, and there's no reliable publicly-available records of their print runs - you'd have to buy Ellusionist to know, and even that wouldn't guarantee it!


As far as marked and unmarked versions of a deck - it really depends on the deck.  I'm assuming you're referring to decks that were printed as marked at the factory.  Most often, there's some additional packaging around the deck when it's sold to indicate it's a marked deck, then the tuck box itself has nothing to indicate whether it's marked or not.  For example, GT Speedreaders are a popular marked deck made with the Bicycle Mandolin Back, and they're wrapped in cellophane that clearly describes them as a marked deck, while the tuck box inside that cellophane is the same as all the other Bicycle Mandolin Back decks.  If you have marked decks that somehow lost that outer packaging, well - you'd have no way to know without opening it.


In cases where there's no additional wrapping or other indications in the packaging, oftentimes that's because the deck itself only comes in a marked version.  An example of this would be Cohorts from Ellusionist - there's no unmarked version, they're all marked.  The very first Legends deck from Legends Playing Cards is another example - all of them are marked, in all three colors, if I recall.


There's an interesting caveat - Bicycle Rider Backs, or Bicycle Standard as they're more commonly known these days due to a packaging change.  Not long after USPC moved from Cincinnati to Erlanger, their legal department noticed an intellectual property problem.  Most of their artwork for their classic decks is no longer protected under copyrights, having been made too long ago to still be copyrighted.  While they can't trademark playing cards themselves, they were able to trademark the unique elements of their decks, such as back design, jokers and Ace of Spades.  While copyright law is a little liberal when it comes to creating derivative works, trademark law is a lot tighter when it comes to protecting those trademarks - allowing variations to exist in the marketplace amounts to "dilution" of the trademark, which results in rendering the trademark unenforceable.


So they stopped accepting variations from the standard designs on those elements, which included various gaffed cards and marked decks.  The legal team went back and forth a few times over what was permitted and what wasn't - for a while, Ellusionist was allowed to keep making Series 1800 decks (regular and marked), until they weren't, because one of their lawyers thought the fake weathering/aging effect was an unacceptable alteration, forcing them to create Series 1900 decks - a similar-looking design (and marked) but with the markings hidden in the border.  But even that was considered too much, and E was told by USPC they couldn't print more.  The legal team tends to waver a bit now and then, but by and large, if you have a Bicycle Standard deck that was printed around 2010 or later, it's probably not marked.  (A pair of French magicians did sneak in a print run of the Ultimate Marked Deck, but those are pretty scarce and these days are very expensive, so it's less likely that someone will confuse it for an unmarked pack.)  The only new development on that front was from Ondrej Psenicka - in 2023, he released a Bicycle Rider Back deck with a simple border design surrounding the bog-standard Rider Back image, and hidden in the border is a non-reader, binary-based marking system.  Aside from this thin red line with white stripes, the rest of the back design is completely, totally the standard design, and USPC gave it a green light.


Beyond that, if you wanted to make a recently-printed marked deck, you'd need a unique card design of your own, or you'd need to create it in one of their newer backs that they market to magicians looking for alterable backs - those being the Mandolin Back and the Maiden Back.  In market tests, the vast majority of consumers didn't notice any difference between those and the Rider Backs.  I even know of magicians who placed gaffed Mandolin and Maiden Back cards into a Rider Back deck, and their audiences never caught on because the average person (even ones attending magic shows) simply don't notice and remember enough of the design details to distinguish between them.

Bit of a strange bar code here as it is missing the floating 7.  It's got the janky "R", so should be made by USPCC, maybe from 1980ish - 1986 before ARRCO then Hoyle made the decks?

Howard Card hired Ronald Rule as CEO in 1985. Rule made several changes to improve operations, including the elimination of excess inventory. The combination of inventory reduction and automation increased gross profit margins from 21% to 30%. Rule reduced the company's operating force by almost half and reorganized it to better serve casinos and retail chains.

At USPCC, skilled workers went on strike several times during 1985-1987. With the absence of skilled workers, production was carried out by part-time workers, resulting in lower quality and higher defect rates.

The reason why we can say this is true is because we investigated where the second products were distributed at that time.

Let's put that story aside,

STUD Deck had been a regularly produced brand for many years and had an overstocking problem. Therefore, we assume that the 1986 STUD Deck does not have a barcode because the priority was to get rid of the inventory.

Because of these factors, we expect that the number of "1986 STUDs" produced will be very small.

Cheers .

Touya.

Jack the Ripper & Sherlock Holmes Playing Cards by Anti-Faro & Room One (Kickstarter)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/antifaro/jack-the-ripper-and-sherlock-holmes-playing-cards

Custom playing cards in the era of Victorian London, with a built-in puzzle to solve

Price: $14 (Stalemate or Skewer edition), $26 (Checkmate or Castling edition), $78 (Collector Set with all four decks and bonus items), $98 (Half Brick Set), $145 (Ultimate Set)
Current funding level: already funded
Kickstarter ends: Tuesday, April 1, 2025



This project combines fact with fiction, merging the real-world crimes of Jack the Ripper with the fictional master sleuth Sherlock Holmes.  The artwork on the cards is geared to capture something of the eerie atmosphere of both world in 19th century London.  I've always loved the Sherlock Holmes stories, and combines it with the mystery of Jack the Ripper is an excellent idea.

But what I especially love is the puzzle built into two of the decks from this project, where it's your job to figure out the murderer.  Here's how it is described: "Scattered throughout the deck are hidden clues, cryptic messages, and pieces of evidence. Your mission: analyze the hints, follow the trail, and identify the infamous outlaw before time runs out.  Will you rise to the challenge and solve the mystery, or will Jack the Ripper vanish into the night once again? Unravel the secrets, crack the case, and claim your victory. Every shuffle, every deal, and every play brings you closer to the ultimate revelation. Can you uncover the killer before the next crime occurs?

The Jack the Ripper & Sherlock Holmes Playing Cards come in two main editions, one with what the creator calls a "shadow vanishing tuck box", and the other with what the creator calls a "detective tuck box".  Each of these has two decks, one in black and one in white. 
● Checkmate Edition (black) and Castling Edition (white) - both with the shadow vanishing tuck box
● Stalemate Edition (black) and Skewer Edition (white) - both with the detective tuck box

Checkmate and Castling Editions

The Checkmate and Castling editions are the more luxurious decks.  Their tuck boxes have embossing and foil, and have a unique mechanism where a shadow of Jack the Ripper disappears when you open the front of the box.  The cards in these decks use cold foil, and are finished with coloured edges.







Stalemate and Skewer Editions

The Stalemate and Skewer Editions have a unique tuck box with a wax emblem.  When it's unfolded to reveal the cards, it reveals a letter from Jack the Ripper.  These cards have a more straight forward colour scheme that relies mostly on black and white.







Extras

Box sets are also available for collectors, and especially noteworthy is the collector's box which contains one of each of the four decks, plus a set of clues for solving the puzzle, and a collector's coin.



To solve the puzzle, you'll need the clues found in both a black deck and a white deck, so you'll have to get a pair of decks: either the Checkmate and the Castling edition, or the Stalemate and Skewer editions.



The Creator

I've been very impressed with the output and quality of Room One Cards, and the decks I've seen so far have been fantastic.  This is another splendid project that incorporates artistic creativity with an original theme, a luxurious look, innovation, quality, and a fun puzzle!

Anti-Faro Playing Cards is one of the sub-brands of Room One Cards, which is based in Asia and is the creator of three main brands: Room One Cards, Bloom Playing Cards, and Anti-Faro Playing Cards.  With the help of Kickstarter they've already produced around a dozen different projects of custom playing cards, which have been well-received by the playing card community.  Room One Cards has their own printer, and use three main stocks: 270gsm = Sleight Stock, 290gsm = Afflux Stock, and 300gsm = Elite Stock.  I've seen and used decks with each of these three stocks, and the quality and handling has been impressive.

Jack the Ripper & Sherlock Holmes is the fourth project under the Anti-Faro label, and follows the success of three previous projects: Plague Doctor Playing Cards (2023), The Trial of Blackbeard Playing Cards (2024), and Stellar Dread Playing Cards (2024).  I haven't seen these all personally, but I do own the Trial of Blackbeard deck, and love the puzzle that was built into that.  So when I heard about yet another deck from the same creator with an in-built puzzle, I was immediately enthused.



Kickstarter link

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/antifaro/jack-the-ripper-and-sherlock-holmes-playing-cards