Does anyone have any background or information about this deck? I've never seen them before now. It's a Bee tech art deck with the bumblebee in the window, and decks are dated 2005. Front of tuck looks like any other Bee deck from the period. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks for the replies! I'll work on some of these ideas.

Thanks for the feedback Eddie. When you say color on the edges, do you mean on the actual cut edges of the paper, or the border between where the dark brown meets the white paper? Thanks again.

Don - very enlightening post. Thank you for taking the time and for clarifying so many things I was unclear about. This helps to give me some direction on some of the current things I am working on.

Still looking for club 808 decks? I have a bunch of perspective, some cigar, and probably some others.

As a designer myself, minimalism is the toughest style to master in playing card design. You can't go minimal for the sake of being minimal. It has to be functional, attractive, and balanced - and it needs a theme. Daniel Madison has had some great success with minimalist decks - but then again, some of his decks are too minimal in my view. Most notably, his blank deck lol. The Rounders deck is a good example of being very minimalist - yet meeting the proper criteria of what makes a successful deck.

The Fulton's decks are another example. Chinatown and Ace Fulton's Casino decks aren't as minimalist as Madison's decks, yet they are very minimalist when compared to much of what's out there with so much detailed and intricate artwork. The Fulton's decks have probably been my main inspiration - second only to the early 20th and late 19th century classics from USPC, Dougherty, and the like. I'm still in awe with what artists in 1896 were able to accomplish.

I would start with a theme. And experiment with the bare minimum required to present that theme attractively. I wouldn't go too minimal on the pips and indices to keep the cards fully functional - but try maybe working on the back design first. Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

Since no one else has responded, and this is a few months old, I'll take a crack at it.

First of all, your custom courts are fabulous. I really like the layout and colors, as well as the original concept for the court faces. That said, I think your back design needs a lot of work. It isn't bad, but in comparison to the level of artwork evident in your courts, it just pales in comparison. Your courts betray your talent for graphic art - so I know for a fact you can do much better on the backs. Just my opinion.

I like the writing on the faces as a concept, however it is just too chaotic for me. I can't tell you if it should be removed, or modified somehow to not compete with the design so much.

I love your pips and how you have them laid out.

I think your tuck box needs to really stand out strong on its own. I sort of feel similar about it as your back design. It's good, but perhaps not good enough for the level of deck you are going for. I feel like you have the talent to take it to the next level.

Overall, strong concept, great artwork, and really just a few tweaks should make this a really great deck.

I'm working on a couple of different designs/concepts. For one of them, I really would like to use classic ARRCO courts and recolor them. Does anyone know where one would obtain a vector (or hi res raster) pack of ARRCO faces for design? I have already found several good source files for USPC-related standard faces - but no ARRCO.

Another question - I am curious about how an outside company is able to reproduce a USPCC vintage design. For instance, Deckso (spelling?) reproduced the vintage All Wheel Back No. 2 I believe in 2012 and released it. Obviously, this is a design that USPCC owns - yet a private company reproduced it and released it under the Bicycle banner. How does this work? How does a company like Deckso make any money on a design they don't own and didn't create? Any feedback on this process would be appreciated.

I just purchased this deck for a song, and I can't seem to find out much about it. Older Bee decks I've seen say "Standard" and "Made in the USA" on the front of the tuck - this one says "The NY Consolidated Card Co" - can someone tell me what they know about this? Thanks!

I did some digging last night and read basically what you posted. Don't know how I haven't come across one before, but I am still a novice to vintage decks. Tell me, I found a supply of a handful of these decks in great condition, different spinoff brands like Torpedo, Mohawk, etc; all around this era or a little earlier, for about $6 a deck - but oddly enough most are missing their boxes. Is this a worthy investment? One deck features the AoS that identifies only "Russell Playing Card Company" with the old Russell AoS design. I would imagine that much of the deck's value is contingent on the tuck box, correct?

Great info - thanks guys

I've got a bike bridge deck from 1953, and the bottom of the tuck says "High Finish". Was high finish the standard for these bridge decks, or is this an outlier? Thanks!

I thought so too. Thanks Don!