"You collect WHAAAT??!?"

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RSLancastr
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"You collect WHAAAT??!?"

Unread post by RSLancastr »

What is the most unusual/memorable reaction you've gotten from someone when you told them that you collect decks of playing cards?

I've gotten a lot of "You collect what??!?"-type reactions over the years, but the most memorable reaction I recall was when I was visiting a woman I had just started dating.

We were in her house, having a "getting to know each other" conversation, when she asked if I had any hobbies.

When I said "Yes, I collect decks of unusual playing cards!", there was a pause and then she laughed in my face!

She thought I was kidding, evidently thinking that nobody would ever collect something so...commonplace.

I assured her that I was serious, that I had a web site devoted to the hobby, and had written articles on the hobby for a couple of magazines.

I think she still thought I might have been kidding, but asked me to email her a link to the web site so that she could check it out.

I emailed her the link, and she checked the site out.

The next time we talked, she said that she had been impressed with how my write-ups of the decks on the site actually made the topic interesting to her, and toi her co-workers.

Soon after that, I brought over a box of a dozen or so of my favorite decks, and we spent an evening looking at them.

One reason why her reaction is so memorable to me is that I remember those times very fondly because I ended up marrying that woman.

So I guess she didn't find my hobby too weird.
-Marcel Marceau
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Re: "You collect WHAAAT??!?"

Unread post by max »

That's a great story! I haven't had such a exciting experience relating to playing cards collecting. The few people that come at home simply get impressed looking at my piles of boxes with playing cards and I am sure they must think I am a nerd. Nobody has told me anything about it but they couldn't imagine there were so many kinds of playing cards... And I have just a few...

After knowing a friend collected energy drink cans, I think collecting playing cards is just a normal hobby :)
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Re: "You collect WHAAAT??!?"

Unread post by malanthrax »

Hmmm. I am always surprised when people get shocked about something so mundane:) I also collect mistakenly printed items like dice and so forth. I love that stuff.
I don't really have many "whaaatt." stories. I guess sometimes it bothers people that I don't play games with the decks often. Which is tempered by collectors FREAKING out when I do play poker with some of the collectible cards.
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Re: "You collect WHAAAT??!?"

Unread post by UtterFool »

I too have never had a "What?" Moment when I have told people I collect playing cards.
I would believe their is probably a two fold reason for this.

One, I don't believe collecting playing cards is that unusual of a hobby, perhaps to the obsessive level that many of us do it, it may be odd. But I am pretty sure that you can find a small collection in the hands of any body who plays cards regularly, and there are enough people who have seen a large enough variety of decks that they could see the possibility. The people who would say "what?" To p
Aging cards are those who would say what to anything that was not designed specifically for collecting

The second reason is more specific to me.
As I have said before I have numerous collections
So after I get the " What?" Reaction to my Gas mask collection and after I have taken the time to explain what Goshuin ( temple stamps) are, and I cycle down this list , most people hear playing cards at that point and think "sure, why not". They find my whole obsessive personality weird and so do not blink at the playing cards. In fact it is the one collection friends can most relate with and help me with so when they go on vacations they will often check to see if thir is a souvenir or interesting deck for me. They typically won't pick me up a Gas mask, a sword, 1940s through 1970s science fiction toys, McCoy smiley face pottery, military hat or something from any of the numerous other collections.
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Re: "You collect WHAAAT??!?"

Unread post by RSLancastr »

UtterFool wrote:I too have never had a "What?" Moment when I have told people I collect playing cards.
I would believe their is probably a two fold reason for this.

One, I don't believe collecting playing cards is that unusual of a hobby, perhaps to the obsessive level that many of us do it, it may be odd. But I am pretty sure that you can find a small collection in the hands of any body who plays cards regularly, and there are enough people who have seen a large enough variety of decks that they could see the possibility.
Well, I think that it is less uncommon than it was when I started really collecting seriously (around 1995 or so). When I started, I (seriously) thought that I was the only person who collected playing cards.

When I created a web site to show some of my collection, I frequently got emails from people who had thought that THEY were the only person who collected playing cards.


When I joined 52 Plus Joker (a club of playing card collectors), I found that MANY of its members had thought at one point that THEY were the only person who collected playing cards.

Thanks mostly to the Internet, anyone contemplating starting the hobby is just a web search away from finding out that they are not alone in the interest, so that feeling of being alone in the hibby is mostly gone. This, along with some of the cool displays of cards on many sites, and the tons of places online where neat decks are for sale, has made the collecting of playing cards far more popular (and thus, far more known) nowadays.
The people who would say "what?" To p
Aging cards are those who would say what to anything that was not designed specifically for collecting
Not so. Nither coins nor stamps were originaaly designed specifically for collecting (although many are issued/minted now specifically for the collecting market), yet I think they are probably the two most well-known collecting hobbies out there.
The second reason is more specific to me.
As I have said before I have numerous collections
So after I get the " What?" Reaction to my Gas mask collection and after I have taken the time to explain what Goshuin ( temple stamps) are, and I cycle down this list , most people hear playing cards at that point and think "sure, why not". They find my whole obsessive personality weird and so do not blink at the playing cards. In fact it is the one collection friends can most relate with and help me with so when they go on vacations they will often check to see if thir is a souvenir or interesting deck for me. They typically won't pick me up a Gas mask, a sword, 1940s through 1970s science fiction toys, McCoy smiley face pottery, military hat or something from any of the numerous other collections.
Yes, I probably have a few dozen decks in my collection which were given to me by friends and relatives who picked up a deck while on vacation, thinking it was what I collected. ("You said you collect decks of unusual playing cards - Isn't a deck with a picture of Yosemite on the back 'unusual?")

It is nice that they were thinking of me, and I have kept every single one of those decks, "unuisual" or not.
-Marcel Marceau
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