Highest quality Bicycle deck

[J4keFr0mStatef]

What is the highest quality deck of Bicycle playing cards that you guys have USED. I would appreciate it if you posted your favourite card retailer and the pros/cons of each deck you recommend. I prefer paper cards with a nice finish, plastic for me are less desirable. Thank you guys so much!

[Don Boyer]

What is the highest quality deck of Bicycle playing cards that you guys have USED. I would appreciate it if you posted your favourite card retailer and the pros/cons of each deck you recommend. I prefer paper cards with a nice finish, plastic for me are less desirable. Thank you guys so much!

There's a lot of ways one can define "highest quality."  One person's best deck might not be another's - different people have different criteria for what's the highest quality.

I'm rather partial to the Gold Seal Bicycle Professional decks designed by Richard Turner - they're still available, affordable, made on Bee Casino grade stock and traditionally cut for good shuffling out of the box.  I also like some old Tally-Ho decks, the ones made prior to the company's move from Cincinnati to Erlanger - they used to use a really good grade of stock and had better quality control over the printing.  But technically they aren't Bicycles, so you might not be interested.

Consider decks from other manufacturers as well as other USPC brands.  USPC makes a pretty good smooth deck in the Aladdin brand.  Legends Playing Card Company (LPCC) and Expert Playing Card Company (EPCC) also make some top-notch decks that often exceed the quality of what USPC puts out, especially compared to USPC's modern decks.  USPC owns a Spanish subsidiary, Fournier, that makes some really good decks as well, and I'm personally rather partial to decks from the Angel Playing Card Company out of Osaka, Japan.

[J4keFr0mStatef]

What is the highest quality deck of Bicycle playing cards that you guys have USED. I would appreciate it if you posted your favourite card retailer and the pros/cons of each deck you recommend. I prefer paper cards with a nice finish, plastic for me are less desirable. Thank you guys so much!

There's a lot of ways one can define "highest quality."  One person's best deck might not be another's - different people have different criteria for what's the highest quality.

I'm rather partial to the Gold Seal Bicycle Professional decks designed by Richard Turner - they're still available, affordable, made on Bee Casino grade stock and traditionally cut for good shuffling out of the box.  I also like some old Tally-Ho decks, the ones made prior to the company's move from Cincinnati to Erlanger - they used to use a really good grade of stock and had better quality control over the printing.  But technically they aren't Bicycles, so you might not be interested.

Consider decks from other manufacturers as well as other USPC brands.  USPC makes a pretty good smooth deck in the Aladdin brand.  Legends Playing Card Company (LPCC) and Expert Playing Card Company (EPCC) also make some top-notch decks that often exceed the quality of what USPC puts out, especially compared to USPC's modern decks.  USPC owns a Spanish subsidiary, Fournier, that makes some really good decks as well, and I'm personally rather partial to decks from the Angel Playing Card Company out of Osaka, Japan.

Wow. Thank you, I appreciate you. I really do. Lot of valuable information, and I'll look into it all. Much appreciated, Don Boyer.

[Kruser]

Somehow, I'd never heard of the 'Gold Seal Bicycle Professional' decks before!

... Gotta get myself some!

Thanks Don!

Kruser

[Don Boyer]

Somehow, I'd never heard of the 'Gold Seal Bicycle Professional' decks before!

... Gotta get myself some!

Thanks Don!

Kruser

They were made specially by Richard Turner, a legendary modern-day card magician - who's legally blind and can outperform most sighted card magicians!  The heavier stock and traditional cut makes them a superior deck and they're still available at a mere $5 a pack.

Turner also had a hand in the creation of the Bicycle Mandolin Back deck, Bicycle 809.  I personally prefer the design of the deck designed by Meir Yedid Magic, the Bicycle Maiden Back deck, Bicycle 813.  Both are top-grade decks and meant to mimic the design of a Rider Back closely enough to fool a spectator (allowing for gaffs to be made in the card back's design) but not too closely (it's different enough that it doesn't infringe on the design's trademark, nor does it qualify as dilution of the trademark).

Both came about as a legal compromise made by USPC when they determined that in order to legally protect their back designs (the oldest and most popular ones are in the public domain and no longer copyrighted), they had to trademark them.  Trademark laws are stricter, not allowing for modifications of a design, so USPC could no longer protect the designs if they allowed variants to be made, meaning no more card gaffs or factory-marked decks using an altered Rider Back design.  They still prohibit alterations of their unique Ace of Spades and Joker, but they do permit substitutions.

Furthermore, while the Maiden Back and Mandolin Back can be altered, they're still under copyright aren't freely usable without the copyright holder's permission.  I could be mistaken on this, but I think that USPC holds the copyright on the Mandolin Back and MY Magic owns the Maiden Back, but both do permit alterations and I don't think it's terribly expensive to use the designs - I've seen a few Kickstarter projects and magicians use them without it breaking the bank.

[Cardfool]

Somehow, I'd never heard of the 'Gold Seal Bicycle Professional' decks before!

... Gotta get myself some!

FYR, I just picked up a bunch at Penguin Magic for 3.75 a piece!

[EndersGame]

What is the highest quality deck of Bicycle playing cards that you guys have USED.

Is there even such a thing as a highest quality deck from US Playing Cards?

As I understand it, USPCC offers three choices of paper stock: Bicycle Standard, Bee Casino, or Thin Crush (new and more rarely used). The Bee Casino grade stock is considered to be slightly thicker, stiffer, and more durable than the Bicycle stock, and can require some breaking in.

Further, USPCC only offers two different coatings, "Magic Finish" (called "Performance Coating" by Ellusionist), and "Standard Finish". The "Magic Finish" is apparently slightly more slippery and makes cards slide more easily, and is preferred by magicians and cardists, while the "Standard Finish" coating is only used on huge orders of 15,000+.  So nearly any custom deck produced by USPCC will have the Magic Finish.

If I have the above right, this means that virtually all custom decks produced by USPCC have the "Magic Finish", and the only real difference between them is whether they are produced on either the Bicycle Standard stock, or the Bee Casino stock.  There is the option of having them cut with a traditional cut rather than a modern cut, as Don says.  But just ignoring that for a moment, won't virtually all decks produced by USPCC look, feel and handle quite similarly, and fall into two camps, depending on whether they use the Standard stock or the Bee Casino stock?

Some related questions:

1. Are the normal "Bee" branded decks published on Bee Casino stock, or are they published with Bicycle Standard stock? i.e. are the mass produced Bee branded decks stiffer/thicker than Bicycle branded decks, or are they printed on exactly the same cardstock, and handle the same as a standard mass produced Bicycle riderback deck?

2. What "finish/coating" does USPCC put on their mass produced Bicycle branded rider-back decks?  The Standard one, or the Magic finish?  My understanding is that the finish on differently branded decks is sometimes called by different names - e.g."Air-Cushion finish" (Bicycle decks), "Linoid finish" (Tally Ho decks), or "Cambric finish" (Bee decks) - but in reality are all identical, and are actually the "Standard" finish.  Is that correct?

[Don Boyer]

Some related questions:

1. Are the normal "Bee" branded decks published on Bee Casino stock, or are they published with Bicycle Standard stock? i.e. are the mass produced Bee branded decks stiffer/thicker than Bicycle branded decks, or are they printed on exactly the same cardstock, and handle the same as a standard mass produced Bicycle riderback deck?

2. What "finish/coating" does USPCC put on their mass produced Bicycle branded rider-back decks?  The Standard one, or the Magic finish?  My understanding is that the finish on differently branded decks is sometimes called by different names - e.g."Air-Cushion finish" (Bicycle decks), "Linoid finish" (Tally Ho decks), or "Cambric finish" (Bee decks) - but in reality are all identical, and are actually the "Standard" finish.  Is that correct?

1.  Good question.  I suspect that it's Bee Casino, but I could be mistaken.  Remember, what they do in the Custom Department isn't the same as what they do in their mass production decks or in the Casino Sales Department.

2.  Mass-produced decks don't use Magic Finish - they use the standard USPC coating.  The old finish names are legacies from the days when there were unique coatings and finishes on decks, and when the finish was actually in the coating and not crushed into the paper with steel rollers (it was created in much the same way that a painter would make a textured wall surface with a cloth-covered paint roller).  They're all either "embossed" or "smooth," regardless of the trademark name for the finish.

[EndersGame]

1.  Good question.  I suspect that it's Bee Casino, but I could be mistaken.  Remember, what they do in the Custom Department isn't the same as what they do in their mass production decks or in the Casino Sales Department.

2.  Mass-produced decks don't use Magic Finish - they use the standard USPC coating.  The old finish names are legacies from the days when there were unique coatings and finishes on decks, and when the finish was actually in the coating and not crushed into the paper with steel rollers (it was created in much the same way that a painter would make a textured wall surface with a cloth-covered paint roller).  They're all either "embossed" or "smooth," regardless of the trademark name for the finish.

I have emailed USPCC last week to inquire about whether the mass produced "Bee" branded decks are published on Bee Casino stock, but haven't got any response as yet.  I will post here if I hear back.

If I'm not mistaken the standard USPC coating used for the mass produced decks isn't as slippery as the "Magic Finish" - would you consider it inferior to the Magic Finish, Don?

[Don Boyer]

If I'm not mistaken the standard USPC coating used for the mass produced decks isn't as slippery as the "Magic Finish" - would you consider it inferior to the Magic Finish, Don?

That's all in the eye (and hands) of the user.  Some people love Magic Finish and think it's the greatest thing to come to playing card handling.  Others find it to be too slippery and don't like the "chemical" smell of the cards when they first come out of the pack - it can linger for quite a while.  It's not superior/inferior as an objective thing - it's more subjective.

I'd guess that more USPC customers prefer it - otherwise, why would they even offer it for all these years?  It was developed sometime around 2011, if memory serves.