Some of my Favorite Decks

[RSLancastr]

Yes, going in and tweaking the HTML (BBCode, actually) is how I fixed it before. I just did so again, though who knows how long it will stay fixed.

[RSLancastr]

I have the Arts of Pre-Columbian America deck, and the UFO deck, but the seller I got the UFO deck from claimed it was a souvenir of Roswell.

I would not be at all surprised if the deck is sold in Roswell - they will sell anything with an alien on it - but I bought the deck at a casino in Vegas.

I also collect any object with a custom court on it, and I bought t-shirts in Vegas with courts from that deck on them.

I would love to have the Alien Poker deck with it's bizarre and colourful courts. Haven't found it at an affordable price yet. Also wouldn't mind having the daffy Werewolf Wild West.

Yeah, the Alien Poker deck is also of interest to collectors of Pinball-related things, making it a cross-collectible, and so, harder to find. I got mine on eBay in the 90s.

[dazzleguts]

I also collect any object with a custom court on it, and I bought t-shirts in Vegas with courts from that deck on them.

Would love to have one of those t-shirts, was that in the 90s as well? Searches in google and ebay turned up nothing. Is there any specific name or reference associated with the shirt? Was it for a particular casino?

[RSLancastr]

nOW THAT i THINK MORE ON IT, i RECALL THAT ALTHOUGH i BOUGHT THE DECK IN A CASINO IN vEGAS (tHE eXCALIBUR, i believe (sorry for the caps), I bought the t-shirts at a vendor table at a subsequent convention of 52 Plus Joker. Sorry for the misinformation.

[Strag]

LOVE the Arrco and the Kennedy. Great collection, happy to see more. When is your site up?

[RSLancastr]

LOVE the Arrco and the Kennedy. Great collection, happy to see more. When is your site up?

I am hoping to have a New & Improved version up and running by the end of the year - thanks for asking!

[RSLancastr]

Here are four more from my collection.

The images and descriptions are from my now-defunct web site "The Bob Lancaster Gallery of Unusual Playing Cards".

==========[ BIG DOGS ]==========

Big Dog Sportswear is well known here in California for its line of products which feature their mascot, a big ol' black and white dog, in a variety of situations (my wife's favorite has him dressed as a Mexican bandito, above the phrase "Leashes?! We don't need no stinking leashes!!").

Recently, they published this deck of playing cards, in which their mascot stands in for the jacks, queens, kings and jokers! With its canine courts, leaping jokers and bright colors, this charming deck has quickly become a favorite of mine.

My favorite decks tend to be those in which the jacks, queens and kings are non-standard, and yet stick close to the conventions of the English/American pack. This deck fits that description very well (the major exception being a two-eyed jack of hearts).

Each of the court cards is a gentle send-up of the equivalent standard English/American card, resulting in a deck that is both very playable and very collectible.

==========[ CARD TRICKS ]==========

No, not a magic deck! The "tricks" in the deck's title are of a different sort altogether...

This deck, published in 1981 by Hit The Deck Enterprises of San Francisco, California, takes a gentle swipe at gay stereotypes.

In it, the kings are macho "Village People" types, the queens are drag queens, and the jacks depict stereotypically "gay professions".

==========[ COCKTAILS ]==========

Although aluminum is the third most common element on earth, it always occurs chemically joined to another metal. Prior to 1886, extracting aluminum from other metals was a costly endeavor, making the refined metal nearly as precious as gold. But it was in that year that a cheap process for such extraction was invented, and suddenly, everyday items started being made out of aluminum which would have been unthinkably expensive before.

Some of these items were actually better suited to the older, more traditional materials, but creating them out of aluminum was a novelty. One such novelty item was aluminum playing cards, decks of which were sold as souvenirs at World's Fairs in the 1890's. The cards were easily bent and scratched, and soon the novelty wore off. Not many aluminum decks were made after that.

This deck, made in the 1920's by Hauserman, was unusual, even for an aluminum deck: Its courts are non-standard, featuring art deco depictions of the rich crowd. Also, it is a "patience-sized" deck, being only 1 5/8" x 2 3/8" (the images have been enlarged here to allow for better viewing).

The box reads "NATURAL ALUMINUM PLAYING CARDS - COCKTAIL SERIES - CHARLES L. KING - NEW YORK, N.Y - Made in Austria".

==========[ CORSAIRES & FLIBUSTIERS ]==========

[RSLancastr]

Holy smokes!

In my previous post, the forum software replaced the common three-letter word for someone who is attracted to people of their own gender (it starts with "G", rhymes with "May") with "BAN WARNING"?!

I had no idea that word was forbidden here, and have no idea why it would be.

[Russell]

Don't worry it isn't a real ban warning.

It is a word replacement, usually on online forums the word 'gay' is used as a slur. We want this forum to remain carefree with as little drama as possible, in order to combat a person getting nasty we replaced two words. The other being the N word.

Don't worry about your post, it was written in good taste and was not offensive.

[RSLancastr]

certainly, the word can be used as a slur. But it is also, in my experience, thought of as a positive term by those within the gay community, as in "gay pride". The only gay person I've known who does NOT like the word is a dear friend of mine who "came" out a few yeas ago at the age of 82, and absolutely hates the word, preferring "homosexual".

So I think that to blacklist the word is silly. If someone uses it as a slur, and someone else reports them, THEN act on it. Redact the word and issue a warning if appropriate. It's a perfectly good word.

M two cents,

-Robert

[RSLancastr]

Although many here collect playing cards, Cardistry is your main focus, not collecting (thus the name of this forum), so interest in my "Favorite Cards" topics here has been minimal.

I thought I would post one more such topic and give it rest for a while, so here goes, this time without the descriptions:

==========[ Hermes ]==========



==========[ Hamm's Beer ]==========



==========[ Frozen Courts ]==========



==========[ French Line ]==========



==========[ Duolog ]==========



==========[ Can-Can ]==========



==========[ Beavis & Butthead ]==========



==========[ Transformation Playing Cards ]==========



==========[ Schering Pharmaceuticals ]==========

[CBJ]

Hey bud,

4 threads for the same thing is wayyy too much. I've merged them all into 1

CBJ

[RSLancastr]

No problem.

[RSLancastr]

For the record, I started three different threads/topics to show three different groups of cards rather than simply adding new groups to one thread/topic because I thought it made the fact that new images had been added more visible to anyone who was interested. Just seeing that posts had been added to an existing thread could mean anything, where a new "favorite decks" thread definitely meant new images.

Regardless of that, it has become painfully obvious to me that I am just not a "fit" here at UC.

I am a collector, not a cardist. And, with only one functional hand, I am not likely to become a cardist any time soon.

I knew this was a cardist forum coming in (the name of the place did not escape my attention), but I lookied around and saw that many of you cardists - not surprisingly - also collect decks.

So I thought that perhaps this was a place where I could share some of my collector's knowledge (such as it is) and some images from my collection.

What I did not know (though a couple of you tried to tell me, both in posts and in PMs), was that many if not most of you are not really that interested in the types of decks I focus on, but are far more interested in the latest from USPC.

<Seinfeld>
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
</Seinfeld>

My "Favorite Decks from my collection" threads (now merged into one) did not get the reception I had hoped, other than from a couple of you (and I thank them for that).

Between that and some other things, I have come to realize that, as I said above, I am just not a "fit" here (or at least not as much of a "fit" as I'd originally thought I'd be).

What I should be focusing on now is reviving my old playing card collecting web site, where I will be able to add images of whatever decks strike my fancy.

I intend to still hang here for a while, but I won't be cluttering up the place with these threads any more.

My apoloigies to anyone my threads annoyed.

I wish you all well in your collecting, cardistry and design efforts.

Speaking of design, I will definitely be back when I start in on designing my new Transformation deck, to get feedback on it and to pick the brains of those who have already gotten decks published.

Best,

-Robert Lancaster

[Russell]

Hey Robert,

I'm sorry you dont feel like you 'fit' here. I enjoy looking at your older decks and the history behind them. This is a collectors forum just as much as a cardist/magician forum, in fact I'd venture to say there are just as many collectors as cardists here.

Please DO start up your old site again, while also contributing here! I'd love to see more from your collection.

Please don't take the action of us merging your 'favorite decks' topics together as a sign of disrespect. We get so many new posts here sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming, having the three posts together can help people find all of your cards at once rather than searching through pages of older threads.

- Russell

[max]

Robert, I personally love your decks and they give me a cool remind of part of my collection of European (mainly Spanish) deck I have forgotten due to my efforts over the USA decks.

please, go on with this...

[Argentum]

Coming out of the woodwork here to say that I've really enjoyed your posts in this thread. I'm very new to cardistry/card collecting, and what drew me in to collecting is the card design, with learning cardistry/magic as a secondary thing. All of the cards I have so far are ones that have been released very recently, so it's very refreshing to see the older cards you've been posting and the history behind them.

I'd love to check out your site once it's up! In the meantime, though, your contributions here have been very informative and I really appreciate them.

[neongrey]

Yeah honestly I really like seeing these. It's easy to get bogged down in the glut of new decks, good and bad, so it's really cool to see these crazy older ones too.

[MJF]

Robert, same for me. I'm no means a cardist or practice cardistry. I'm a collector pure at heart and just got into this game about a month ago. I do it because I enjoy all the new designs and looks of cards. I also enjoy seeing all the cool rarities in your collection. It gives me something to aspire to and even at the rate I'm collecting, it's going to take years before I catch up to you.

Please stay and continue posting as you do. This board has sections for cardistry and sections to talk specifically about playing cards. In my eyes, you did nothing wrong.

Again, please stay and help us other "collectors" on the site.

[MagikFingerz]

This makes me think we should have something similar to "likes" on facebook. I don't know if this forum system supports it, but a way to show appreciation for something with a simple click just makes it easier. I know I've seen forums that have something like this where the "likes" follow a point system and are added up and displayed next to ones name.

Sorry for the sidetrack. I have also enjoyed these posts and hope they continue

[cosmicsecret]

I also enjoyed your postings.Some of the decks you had shown were very nice!
Would be a pitty if you stop doing that.

[Sharpie]

I also enjoyed your postings.Some of the decks you had shown were very nice!
Would be a pitty if you stop doing that.

Ditto.

[RSLancastr]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, everyone!

It's nice to see that there are several of you who enjoy the images I've been posting.

My first impulse was to create a new Topic for this post (perhaps "My Favorite Bicycle Decks"), thinking that some of the "USPC-centric" users of UC would read it, whereas they may not read this topic.

But I decided to honor what the Moderators feel is the better approach, and so am posting it here.

Here goes:

Since my playing Card collection has always primarily focused on decks with non-standard courts, I had always turned my nose up at Bicycle decks, with their ultra-standard courts.

Then about a year ago, I was searching through eBay for interesting playing card decks. I was also searching for things that are Purple - it being my favorite color (My Susan says that I am "obsessed" with it).

On a whim, I mixed the two searches together and looked for purple playing cards.

I don't recall what I expected to find, but one of the items listed was a Bicycle "The Purple Deck"

With its rich Purple card faces, it combined two of my obsessions (Playing Cards and Purple!) into one object!

Unfortunately, the courts in it were Bike Standard design, though colored radically differently from typical Bike courts.

I decided to relax my definition of "non-standard courts" to include standard courts with non-standard colors, and so justified (to myself) purchasing a "lowly" Bicycle deck.

My standards successfully "lowered", I soon purchased many other Bikes where the courts were only "non-standard" in their coloring:

Some, like "The Purple Deck" had "full bleed" faces of various colors (such as The Purple Deck, The Black Deck, The Red Deck, etc., and the Reversed Back decks)

Others had white faces, but the colors the courts were drawn in were non-standard.

I bought all of these I could lay my hands on.

Then, wonder of wonders, I started finding Bikes where the courts were TOTALLY non-standard (or "custom", as seems to be the preferred term around here)!!

Here are the Bikes I have which fall into that last category:

==========[ Bicycle_2008ElectionEdition_Democrat ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_2008ElectionEdition_Independent ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_2008ElectionEdition_Republican ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Actuators_ArtistsEdition ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Actuators_BlackEdition ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Actuators_WhiteEdition ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Americana ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Bearbrick ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_BlueBlood ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_CoffinFodder ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Galvanic ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Robocycle_Black ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Robocycle_Blue ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Target_Bungalow ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Target_Flirtatious ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Target_Rejuvenate ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Target_Twilight ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Tokidoki ]==========


==========[ Bicycle_Zombie ]==========


Needless to say, with more than 100 Bicycle decks in my collection, I am over my former "Bicycle Snobbery"!

If anyone can think of other Bikes with fully custom courts, PLEASE bring them to my attention!

[Strag]

This makes me think we should have something similar to "likes" on facebook. I don't know if this forum system supports it, but a way to show appreciation for something with a simple click just makes it easier. I know I've seen forums that have something like this where the "likes" follow a point system and are added up and displayed next to ones name.

Sorry for the sidetrack. I have also enjoyed these posts and hope they continue

+1

[RSLancastr]

Ah Strag, but will the forum software keep a running total and display it next to the post for us?

[neongrey]

There's lots of phpbb plugins that should do that or something similar, yeah.

[DelMagic]

I have also enjoyed seeing these decks. Don't go away!

[RSLancastr]

Thanks, Del!

[RSLancastr]

Add this to the list of Bikes with fully-custom courts:

==========[ Bicycle_Grimoire ]==========

[acetofive]

Inspired me to look for a few of these. Thanks for posting.