Sadly I don't own any of the big name rare decks, but I have a few not many people have. I was lucky enough to get a Propaganda deck, and the Bicycle Harry Potter Deck, as well as the Samurai Deck. I just dont physically have enough money for a $100 deck, I would rather by 6 at $15. Maybe one day I shall get the good ones
Don't worry so much about the "good" ones - get what you like, what pleases you most (and fits in your budget). You'll be happier for it.
Yeah I also don't have the money for that! I find the newer decks are cheaper and I can enjoy them more. I don't feel bad playing with any of my decks. If I had vintage ones though it would be like a museum.... "Please don't touch that sir".
I'm sure overtime I'll get a few vintage decks but right now I'm not looking for them specifically.
Over time, the decks you own now will BE the vintage decks! Not every new deck coming out becomes instant paper gold, but there's enough people out there who want to PLAY with them rather than STARE at them on a shelf that those "artificially rare" decks will become even more rare, and not artificially. Decks get traded, used, damaged, lost to fire or flood, pitched into garbage cans, waterlogged at the beach, whatever - it would be different if EVERY single deck was kept preserved, but that would actually work against the collectors as a whole, because if there's a lot of them under glass, it means they're not really all that rare, are they?
Also, IMO vintage decks' market is more stable and more established unlike the new artificial rare decks. And the way I see it, prices would drop significantly for artificial decks when the bubbles burst - which would be triggered by the saturation of decks on the market.
I don't know why you're calling them "artificially rare" - they're still rare, they're just made that way from the start. USPC was making limited edition decks long before other companies decided to get into the business. If anything, a deck that's both vintage and limited edition will be worth far more than a deck that's simply vintage of the same year.
For example, take two decks of the same year: 1918. There's a Bicycle Rider Back deck, quantity-wise very similar to the ones we buy today in the ugly "Standard" boxes, though made in a far different way back then, and proportionate to the demand of the time period and printing methods available. Our other deck would be the "Big Gun" Bicycle deck - also marked as Bicycle 808, but with a unique back meant I believe as a sort of morale booster for the people back home who want to support the troops in Europe. They were made in a shorter run, for a shorter time, not unlike any of the 5,000-or-less print runs we see today, except they probably made more than 5,000 back then (still far less than the Rider Backs, though).
If you had each of those made-in-1918 decks sitting in front of you now, in identical condition, you know the "Big Gun" deck would be far more valuable than the Rider Backs. This despite being "artificially rare" as opposed to genuinely rare. In fact, that "artificially rare" deck was probably worth what the Rider Backs are worth today about 40-60 years ago, adjusting for inflation!
Yes, there's a bubble in the market, and decks hot off the presses (or made within the last decade or so) will take a hit in their value. But in the long run, like almost any investment, the chances of it appreciating in value are far greater than depreciating.