Hey.
I've got something here that has got me pretty confused, so I thought I'd post it up over here and see what you guys have to say about it. I'll dive straight into it.
A couple of years ago, I bought a Bicycle Ribbon Edition Deck. It came in cellophane, but without a seal. At the time, I didn't think anything of it. I knew that some decks came with the sticker seals. But this morning, a package arrived for me in the mail from KPopFever605. One of the decks was the same Ribbon Edition Deck that I already have (not the deck I thought I'd ordered, but that's a different matter). The curious thing was, that this deck had a seal on it. I'd bought it as a used deck, so the seal was broken, which I was fine with, especially as it meant I could check out the cards. The weird thing is, the cards inside have ribbons in each corner of the card, instead of angels like on a regular rider back deck. Yet, in my deck, the cards are just pink rider backs; no ribbons. And the faces on the new decks have either one or two ribbons incorporated in it somewhere, yet mine just has regular Bicycle faces, with the exception of the red suits being pink. The weirder thing is that the back of the deck box shows a face down card
without ribbons in the corners. And yet, one of these decks
did have ribbons in the corners.
I've still got a sealed deck of the Ribbon Edition deck that I bought a few years ago, and I checked that box aswell. It didn't have a seal either. And the little tag that you can pull to unwrap the cellophane doesn't say 'Bicycle' across it as a few of my other sealed Bicycles do.
What I really want to know is, are the two decks that I bought a few years ago fake decks? The handling is just the same as a normal deck, and the cards feel the same thickness and everything. But I can't think of any other conclusion to make, other than a fake deck of cards, a balls up at the USPCC, or a different edition of the Ribbon Edition deck.
Also, while digging around, I found some other pictures of the deck that look to be the same as KPopFever605's deck;
http://www.doobybrain.com/2009/09/07/bicycle-pink-ribbon-playing-cards/ I've posted some pictures below. The deck on the left is my deck from a few years ago, and the deck on the right is the one I just received from KPopFever605. Sorry about the bad quality/lighting; I just quickly used my cell phone to take the pictures.
Also, sorry about the wall of text above. Just trying to make myself as clear as possible, though I fear I've just confused the issue even more. Any help is appreciated.