Re: Austria
Posted: Wed May 20, 2015 11:18 pm
The whiter, thicker deck also seems to have more irregular corners.
I think Jase is right about your decks being from different print runs. I have a Kem double deck set where the codes on the aces of the 2 decks actually give different printing years. Having stockpiles of cards printed, waiting to go into boxes, was common amoung the various card companies, and many collectors have commented on their own Kem doubles being the same.
My own Shakespeare set, in a box like yours with no barcode, has numbers on the Ace of Spades of both decks, and the other Piatnik sets I have all have the numbers on the Ace of Hearts, from the older decks to the ones that have a website on the box. It may be that they were bringing the Shakespeare decks into line with their other designs in having the numbers on the Heart rather than Spade ace, and yours is a crossover set. A different print run with new card stock too. (A change in ownership or leadership often leads to changes like this in the cards.)
If you are going to open them you could check the second deck to see if the Heart has the numbers.
I think Jase is right about your decks being from different print runs. I have a Kem double deck set where the codes on the aces of the 2 decks actually give different printing years. Having stockpiles of cards printed, waiting to go into boxes, was common amoung the various card companies, and many collectors have commented on their own Kem doubles being the same.
My own Shakespeare set, in a box like yours with no barcode, has numbers on the Ace of Spades of both decks, and the other Piatnik sets I have all have the numbers on the Ace of Hearts, from the older decks to the ones that have a website on the box. It may be that they were bringing the Shakespeare decks into line with their other designs in having the numbers on the Heart rather than Spade ace, and yours is a crossover set. A different print run with new card stock too. (A change in ownership or leadership often leads to changes like this in the cards.)
If you are going to open them you could check the second deck to see if the Heart has the numbers.