I stumbled upon this site and I wish I had found it earlier in the process of developing a deck of cards.

Now that i have found this site i would like to be able to ask a few questions.
What is the best way to ship playing cards? I want to be able to send a single deck or as a combo set (red and blue decks).
I want my website to be able to sell decks but what about sales tax in other states?
I ma sure I have more questions as the experts here will ask me questions about my project.

I have just sent my art work to the USPCC and hope to have my decks for sale soon. I have created two color decks, red or blue.
It has taken me about three years to get the cards to my final look. It was accomplished during my spare time and I hope to make these decks successful project.

Thank you

Hi everyone,

I am here today to announce plans for my upcoming Kickstarter campaign: Osprey No 2 & Goshawk No 3 Vintage Playing Cards. This is a two deck set housed in a tobacco tin featuring one deck in blue and one in red. I have been working on this for over a year and I hope you enjoy the result! Hand-drawn vintage style illustration throughout, nothing stock and no A.I. The cards are Poker size and will be printed by Legends on their pre-crushed stock with Classic Finish (I recently handled a deck of these for the first time and found them to be incredible). The tuck will be printed inside and out on luxury matte card stock. For those of you interested in classic and antique decks, you will find many design cues taken from the great manufacturers of old: for those who are not, I hope you can appreciate the beautiful old-world aesthetic that we have tried to conjure up with these decks, and immerse yourself in the wonderful photography taken by Chris Moyer aka Chambertincards. The Pre-launch is now live, so please sign up to be notified if this project is something you are interested in, we plan on launching on Weds July 24th. We hope to see as many of you as possible there, I will leave you with some photos to look through and will return closer to the date of the campaign launch. Also for those of you who remember our first campaign, we will work our hardest to bring our USA friends the best possible shipping rates we can on this one!

CLICK HERE FOR KICKSTARTER PRE-LAUNCH

And now for some photographs...

Dragonlord Gold Playing Cards by TCC

TCC has released a number of projects on Kickstarter, but in several instances they've also just produced new custom decks of luxury playing cards and made them directly available for order via their website. 

From 18 June onwards they are having summer sale, to coincide with a release of a new version of their new Dragonlord Gold deck.  Every purchase of the new Dragonlord Gold deck comes with a free Dragonlord Red deck.  They are also running a special promotion with a discounted offer for their previously released Monkey King deck (with options now including a new box set).

Dragonlord Gold Playing Cards

The Dragonlord deck is not entirely new, because different editions of it have appeared previously in other colours and styles.  A Red edition exists, as do Bicycle-branded editions in both black and white.  This new version takes the dragon to a place worthy of this mythical creature: gold.   

Link: https://tccplayingcard.com/products/dragonlord-playing-cards-by-tcc



The artwork was designed by Sam Hayles, and takes its inspiration from a central tradition of Chinese culture: the dragon.  The dragon has a long history in Chinese culture, and is closely associated with good fortune, and connected with hopes and dreams for prosperity and bounty.  The deck is a wonderful tribute to this important cultural icon, especially because it celebrates the fact that according to the Chinese calendar this is the Year of the Dragon.

The exquisite gold tuck box is an immediate highlight, with a three dimensional effect produced by embossing and gilding. 



It's a limited edition with just 500 copies, all individually numbered.



The design aims to capture the best of modern styling along with the legacy of tradition, and the ornate details pay homage to the changing seasons, and other aspects closely linked to the heritage of the Chinese dragon.

Gold foil can have a dramatic impact, and hot foil stamping is also used on the back of the cards for a look of true luxury.  The way this has been done gives a sense and feel of sparkling dragon scales, and is sure to impress.



In Chinese tradition, the combination of the colours red and gold has long been associated with good luck and prosperity.



For the faces, with the Hearts and Diamonds we are treated to a gold colour, which also makes an appearance in places on the court cards.  While it's not foil, it matches the card backs well, and the overall effect on the red backdrop is very striking.

Of course the Ace of Spades is another highlight, with an intricate design worthy of the rest of the deck, although adding a touch of gold in the design here may have been a nice idea.



For the rest the card faces stick with tradition, with a classical look that largely adopts the style of the court cards and number cards we are used to.  But there are some important differences, because the red background makes them immediately unique. 



This is a wonderful deck that will prove to be a highlight when used for card games, with the traditional faces making it well-suited for that purpose, or just to be enjoyed by collectors.



As mentioned already, during their summer sale, all purchases of the Gold Dragonlord deck will receive a Red Dragonlord deck for free.

Monkey King Playing Cards

To celebrate the release of the Gold Dragon deck, TCC is running a special promo for their Monkey King Playing Cards, which was originally released in November 2023 together with Journey to the West Playing Cards.

Link: https://tccplayingcard.com/products/silent-playing-cards-by-alpha

When this was first released, four different options were made available, which are now discounted under the current promotion:
● Monkey King Holo deck (now $18, retail $25)
● Journey to the West standard deck (now $12, retail $15)
● Journey to the West classic box set (now $30, retail $40)
● Journey to the West black box set (now $50, retail $75)
● Journey to the West wooden box set (now $120, retail $150)

The Journey to the West Classic Box set is the new addition that was not previously available, and it includes both the standard deck and the retro deck.



The Monkey King is a beloved and influential mythological figure in China, which originates in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West. The central character of this classic novel is Sun Wukong, the Monkey King.  After being imprisoned by the Buddha, he is accompanied by a monk and two other disciples on a special journey to the West to retrieve Buddhist sutras. The Monkey King character has been reimagined in numerous forms across literature, drama, and film, and even today is a symbol of wit and courage in East Asian culture.

● Journey to the West standard deck

The tuck boxes of all these decks incorporate detailed elements like overhanging eaves, coiled dragons, scriptures, sacred relics, cloud patterns, and mythical beasts, all accentuated by the embossing.  The style of the artwork on the faces merges traditional architecture and woodblock printing.



The four Aces picture four main protagonists from the story, and the court cards depict other characters.   The two Jokers combine to form a diptych that shows the White Dragon and White Dragon horse.



● Journey to the West retro deck

This deck gives the cards a whole new look and feel.





To learn more about the other Monkey King and the Journey to the West decks, see my article here:

Monkey King Playing Cards by Alpha

Link to product pages
● Dragonlord Gold Playing Cards
● Monkey King deck

I wanted to share with the perusers of this website a sampling of decks that celebrate and commemorate certain well-known New York City landmarks. These are not the later common decks from the mid-20th century that were made to be sold at tourist shops around the city nor are they the known souvenir decks that are currently listed in the Dawson/Hochman encyclopedia which, of course, do not pertain to any one particular landmark despite the Statue of Liberty appearing on the backs of three of these. The decks in question have standard faces but beautiful artwork as their back designs which, together with their dates of issue, is what makes them desirable, especially to those collectors who happen to reside in the city.

The first, and earliest, as well as the only wide example that I have, is a deck of Triton No. 42 Extra cards (Hochman NY51a) made by NYCC which features a wonderful depiction of the newly completed Flatiron Building (1st photo) which was originally called the Fuller Building. The building opened on October 1, 1902 and, if I am interpreting the indistinct date from my partial tax stamp, this deck was issued the very next year. It is interesting to see the detailed background of the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway as it was at that time. This back design is quite rare as I have only ever seen two of these decks, one in my own collection and the other was part of the late Joe Friedman's collection.

Continuing in chronological order, we have a bridge size deck that was issued shortly after completion of the Chrysler Building which opened on May 27, 1930 and was sold at the Observation Tower. This back design shows an image of the iconic building in either green or yellow with silver highlights set against what appear to me to be lightning-like "marble" panels (2nd photo - front & back of OB shown) all combining to create a memorable impression in the mind of the collector. These are Remembrance playing cards issued by Brown & Bigelow of St. Paul, MN and are listed as Hochman MSN14.

The next two decks were issued shortly after the Empire State Building officially opened on May 1, 1931.
The first example was literally issued shortly after, as evidenced by the "P1987" code appearing on the unique Ace of Spades which represents the year 1931. There is no manufacturer's identification appearing either on the original box or any of the 53 cards although it may have been made by USPC. The back design is an absolutely striking Art Deco image of the Empire State Building (3rd photo) which came in both blue and red. This deck was available in single deck side slip cases similar to those housing many of the narrow Congress decks of the 1920's as well as a double deck vertical slip case. The distinctly non-standard Ace of Spades and joker from this deck are shown in the 4th photo.
The second Empire State Building deck was issued either in late 1932 or early 1933 as it contains a Contract Bridge score card dated November 1, 1932. Despite this later date, the original tuck box has a small 10-cent tax stamp affixed with a W.P.L. precancel indicating that is was made by Western P&L Co. of Racine, WI. This back design features another glorious image of the building against a black backdrop of rocks and rays (5th photo).

Today, I am presenting three decks of unknown manufacture which, obviously, poses the question "Who issued these decks and why were the manufacturer's names omitted on the Aces of Spades and elsewhere? Unfortunately, a possible answer to this question might be found on the original boxes, or wrappers, that once housed these decks but each of the three decks described below lacks this important component.

The first deck is the earliest, circa 1855 and, by all accounts, would appear to have been made by either Huestis & Levy or their Union Card Manufactory as the Ace of Spades (1st photo) is identical to both Hochman NY19 and Hochman NY20 as it has the same Grand Street address at the base of the card but the central ribbon is blank. The single-headed courts are the same designs which are unique to this maker and the back design is a commonly found plaid pattern.

The second deck, circa 1890, has the same Ace of Spades (2nd photo) as the one shown for the Hochman L82 listing but a different joker, in this case, the well-known image of a black man sitting on a bale of hay strumming a banjo which is the same as the one shown for the Hochman L53 Steamboats listing but without either maker or brand identification. It has gold edges and a commonly seen green pattern back. Was this deck made by The American Playing Card Co. of Kalamazoo, MI or the Columbia Playing Card Co. of NY or someone else?

The third deck, circa 1900 (maybe earlier?), would appear to be some kind of hybrid as it has an Ace of Spades (3rd photo) that has the same central design as the ones shown for the Hochman PU2 and PU4 listings but without any maker's or city identification, therefore, one might think that this was made by Perfection PCC. The only problem with this assumption is that the back design is a well-known Sphinx-like design found in a couple of NYCC brands, one of which dates back to some 25 years earlier as it comes with the Hochman NY47 Ace of Spades. The courts are not in the NYCC style, though, so there are enough contradictions so that I cannot even guess as to who actually made this deck.

Ordinarily, one might think that the manufacturer's names were deliberately omitted because these were cheating decks with marked backs but, if they were, the designs are too clever for me to spot where the suit and rank delineations are located. Once, again, we seem to be presented with mystery decks that, although interesting by themselves, only serve to raise yet more questions in the mind of the collector.