What are the rarest, most expensive, most sought out decks?

[Rob Wright]

I know 5 decks at this years 52+ auction were up there

The Dougherty Illuminated didn't sell, but had a start of $900

Tiffany Harlequin Transformation went for $770

Royal Playing Cards & Pan American Exposition both went over $800 each

Lake Tahoe Souvenir went for.............$2311 

What are some of the most sought out decks out there?

[Don Boyer]

A complete set of the four Bicycle War Series decks in unopened boxes would probably be one of the Holy Grails of card collecting.  They go for thousands of dollars.

[JacksonRobinson]

A complete set of the four Bicycle War Series decks in unopened boxes would probably be one of the Holy Grails of card collecting.  They go for thousands of dollars.

+1 for this statement

[52plusjoker]

A complete set of the four Bicycle War Series decks in unopened boxes would probably be one of the Holy Grails of card collecting.  They go for thousands of dollars.

A complete set [four mint decks in original wrappers and boxes] of the Bicycle War Series went for over $7000 a couple of years ago. Individually I would expect a single mint deck to be between $1500-2000. The most expensive American deck we know of went for $28000 in the mid-1990's at Lenny Schnier's auction. It was hand painted by a well know American artist - William Aiken Walker - around 1862 and had a civil war theme. Would you like to see pictures?

[bamabenz]

A complete set of the four Bicycle War Series decks in unopened boxes would probably be one of the Holy Grails of card collecting.  They go for thousands of dollars.

A complete set [four mint decks in original wrappers and boxes] of the Bicycle War Series went for over $7000 a couple of years ago. Individually I would expect a single mint deck to be between $1500-2000. The most expensive American deck we know of went for $28000 in the mid-1990's at Lenny Schnier's auction. It was hand painted by a well know American artist - William Aiken Walker - around 1862 and had a civil war theme. Would you like to see pictures?

Yes!

[Rob Wright]

Would you like to see pictures?

WOULD WE LIKE TO SEE PICTURES!  HELL YEA!

[52plusjoker]

Would you like to see pictures?

WOULD WE LIKE TO SEE PICTURES!  HELL YEA!

OK - will dig some out tomorrow and post 'em up.

[Slowhand]

Some of the early War decks are VERY valuable if you ever can find an example.. the J.Y. Humphreys Seminole Indian War deck c1819, Mexican American War deck of c1849 and the Monitor Merrimac Civil War deck in Very Good or better condition are some examples.. also the first few American transformation decks.. Samuel Hart, Eclipse, and Murphy's Varnish are all very rare in any condition better than very good... But there are MANY other decks even rarer than these that almost never come up for sale...never a boring moment searching...  ... now as for Foreign decks... well thats another animal...

[Don Boyer]

Here's one at auction now...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ca-1775-80-Historic-18th-Century-Authentic-52-52-Poker-Playing-Cards-Display-/251606705255?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a94eda467

[52plusjoker]

Here's one at auction now...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ca-1775-80-Historic-18th-Century-Authentic-52-52-Poker-Playing-Cards-Display-/251606705255?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a94eda467

This is just a standard French deck - not that uncommon and not worth anything near a Bicycle War deck in my view.

[Don Boyer]

Here's one at auction now...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ca-1775-80-Historic-18th-Century-Authentic-52-52-Poker-Playing-Cards-Display-/251606705255?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a94eda467

This is just a standard French deck - not that uncommon and not worth anything near a Bicycle War deck in my view.

No it certainly isn't.  But any deck selling for $2,500 is enough to give a collector at least a brief pause!  (Whether it's worth the asking price is a wholly different discussion!)

[Cryptocard27]

Do you know a collector (or a museum) who would have these decks in his collection please?
Would you have pix of any ?

Hochman L13 - CENTENNIAL
Hochman W2 - SEMINOLE WARS HUMPHREYS
Hochman W11 - MONITOR & MERRIMAC
Hochman W47 - WILLIAM AIKEN WALKER
Hochman SE8 - BASEBALL 1888

[52plusjoker]

Would you like to see pictures?

WOULD WE LIKE TO SEE PICTURES!  HELL YEA!

OK - will dig some out tomorrow and post 'em up.

Here are four pictures from this spectacular deck.

[Rob Wright]

Thanks Tom.
I'm assuming QOH, KOD, JOD, and AOS.
They look really narrow. Would this have been bridge sized?
It's really interesting to see how Black American is portrayed compared to the white Jefferson Davis of this deck.