Steve Cohen's "Tycoons" (an Interview)

[Herb]

Folks here may be interested in the interview linked below with Steve Cohen about the making of his "Tycoons" cards. The talk goes into considerable detail about many aspects of contemporary card-making. The interview is on the Magic in New York blog, where I cover the New York magic scene. You may find some of the other articles and postings of interest also.

Herb

http://www.herbsmagic.com/magic-in-new-york-blog/steve-cohen-interview-on-the-making-of-tycoons

[Card Player]

Nice read Herb!

I bought a few Tycoons when they were first released. They look even better in person.

I remember watching a Daniel Madison 2012 EMC performance on video assisted by Steve Cohen. As mentioned, Steve was using the vintage series new fan backs at that time. I can remember thinking how strange it looked when he placed that tuck box on the table. Had I not known that particular deck was a normal deck, I also would have been suspicious.

Interesting that Steve reveals how many were printed (15,000). As most of us know, theory11 almost never discloses specific print size.

I have a new idea for the next printing of Tycoons -- a subtle one way back design. On the current back design there’s a clock face containing Roman numerals from one through twelve. If you look at the number “four” on any watch or clock containing Roman numerals, the four is always represented as IIII. But if you think about your knowledge of Roman numerals, that’s not the correct way to write the number four. It should be represented as IV. So it’s an odd feature that clocks and watches worldwide don’t use IV but do use IIII. For the next version of Tycoons, we’re going to reprint them so that one clock face will show IIII in the position of four and the other clock face will be IV. This disparity allows for a nice, subtle, one-way back design.

I'm hoping this does not happen. I never noticed IIII was part of this design but they should stay true to the original design. A nice limited green color change would go a long way.

[Leif]

Very interesting read. Thank you!

[Don Boyer]

Very good article.

Herb, perhaps you could mention to Steve that the Gold Seal New Fan Backs by Hong Kong magician Zenneth Kok are still available.  The white deck is prohibitively expensive, but the black deck typically sell for well under $10 a pack - closer to $5, in fact.  Has an excellent-looking classic Ace of Spades in it, an old USPC design from maybe a century or more ago.

Dan and Dave also did a recent printing of New Fan Backs in red and blue, but for some inexplicable reason they chose a darker shade of red for the red pips one deck and a brighter shade for the other.  Fine if you want one or the other, terrible if you want to use them as a set.

[Card Player]

Dan and Dave also did a recent printing of New Fan Backs in red and blue, but for some inexplicable reason they chose a darker shade of red for the red pips one deck and a brighter shade for the other.  Fine if you want one or the other, terrible if you want to use them as a set.

Your saying the red decks use dark red pips and the Blue decks use bright red pips? I never noticed that. I have some, I'll need to take a look at that.

The D&D New Fan Backs are no longer available. Maybe a reseller would still have some. D&D released New Fan Backs at the same time as their Steamboat reprints. Only the Steamboats are still available through D&D.

[Don Boyer]

Dan and Dave also did a recent printing of New Fan Backs in red and blue, but for some inexplicable reason they chose a darker shade of red for the red pips one deck and a brighter shade for the other.  Fine if you want one or the other, terrible if you want to use them as a set.

Your saying the red decks use dark red pips and the Blue decks use bright red pips? I never noticed that. I have some, I'll need to take a look at that.

The D&D New Fan Backs are no longer available. Maybe a reseller would still have some. D&D released New Fan Backs at the same time as their Steamboat reprints. Only the Steamboats are still available through D&D.

That is correct.  The NFBs they made are not a matched set.

D&D are still selling their NFBs at their Art of Play site.  I think they're also still selling uncuts of the NFBs with their usual pack of the cards included.

[Herb]

Don - Where's the best place to get those black New Fan Backs? They look cool.

Thanks for checking out the interview, folks.

Herb

[Card Player]

Don - Where's the best place to get those black New Fan Backs? They look cool.

Thanks for checking out the interview, folks.

Herb

http://coterie1902.com/products/playing-cards/special-offer-black-white-new-fan-back

[Fess]

Great interview Herb! Thanks for sharing. 

[Don Boyer]

Don - Where's the best place to get those black New Fan Backs? They look cool.

Thanks for checking out the interview, folks.

Herb

Actually, I think I stand corrected - they are becoming more scarce.  Cartesmagie.com still has some in stock in limited numbers but at nearly $20 a pack for black.

http://coterie1902.com/products/playing-cards/special-offer-black-white-new-fan-back

That offer is only good if the buyer purchases $100 of other merchandise in addition to the two decks.  On Zenneth's own website, he has them available in a few bundles with a magic trick at reasonable prices or paired with a white deck for $129.  He has been known to have sales with attractive bundles (either magic DVD [with gimmick if needed] or a t-shirt), but I suspect that after all this time the stock is finally running low.  Most places will be carrying it at secondary market prices, not retail.

FYI: the black decks originally retailed for $5 a pack and were made in a run of 5,000 decks, back when a deck made in a run that size was considered rare.  The white ones were made in a quantity that's still considered quite rare today, only 1,000 decks, and they were always in the ballpark of $100 or more a pack.