Late 19th Century Playing Card Reproductions - Vanity & Faro

[Decknowledgy]

By Will Roya and PlayingCardDecks.com

Someone help fill in the photos, don't have time now.

[vasta41]

Nice to see someone else doing reprints other than Home Run, especially these guys. I'm in for 1 of each.

[theCapraAegagrus]

It's like a Frankenstein monster of faro, restoration, and transformation. Pass.

[Merlebird]

I'm glad these restorations will be made available for collectors who aren't able to acquire the originals, and I'm sure if Will Roya is doing these they'll be of good quality. But the designs themselves just aren't the kind of thing I go for. I'll be sitting this one out.

[EndersGame]

It's like a Frankenstein monster of faro, restoration, and transformation. Pass.

These look fantastic. It's no Frankenstein monster, it's just a project which gives you the option of two very different decks.



The Vanity Fair deck (1895)

A transformation deck is a unique deck of playing cards where the pips have been incorporated into a larger artistic image. As an example, the six pips on a Six of Clubs might be transformed into part of a larger image picturing five birds. Typically these pips use their traditional location on the card and retain their red/black colours.

Transformation decks were very popular in the 19th century, with some incredibly creative decks produced in this time period. The Vanity Fair Transformation deck was published in 1895 by the United States Playing Card Company. Here's a picture showing some actual cards from an original deck.



While the two-way court cards were also turned into comic figures (e.g. one is smoking a pipe, another holding a spoon), the real attraction of this deck lies in the number cards with transformation art.



The Aces also received special attention. This deck remains one of the finest examples from this era of what the genre of transformation cards could produce.



The Faro deck (1887)

The Russell & Morgan Squared Faro deck was first printed in 1887. It was originally supplied to casinos for the game of faro, a popular gambling card game from this time, and can be considered more of a "workers" deck. To learn more about the traditional game of faro, check out this article.



All the art from both decks has been digitally hand painted from scratch, while sticking as closely as possible to the original artwork and designs. The process began by scanning in artwork from the original decks, or using high quality images of cards from these decks, and then recreating it. The cards themselves are being printed by United States Playing Card Company, an industry leader, and maker of the famous Bicycle playing cards.

Will Roya has been involved in the playing card industry for several years, and has extensive experience both as a retailer and as a creator, with a proven track record for fulfilling his Kickstarter projects.

This is the kind of deck that will appeal to any collector of quality custom playing cards, and the novelty and creativity of these transformation cards is almost certain to make them a hit with whoever sees them. I'm a huge fan of transformation playing cards, and you don't have to be a collector like me to realize that this is a unique and rare opportunity to pick up something truly special!

Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pl ... ions-vanit" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rousselle]

So: I like the way these decks look, I like that someone else is doing good restoration work in addition to Home Run Games (no slight against them, but the more people in this space, the more variety and opportunities for collectors), I like Will Roya as a business person and a KS project creator, and on top of all that: there's an early bird special that I really, really like (get a dozen, which you can mix and match, for the already reasonable price for 8). How can I *not* reward this kind of awesomeness?

[hsbc]

Are the tucks just regular glossy USPCC? With a blank white interior?

[montenzi]

Are the tucks just regular glossy USPCC? With a blank white interior?

It's $5 per deck after KS fees! Why not? There are too many overpriced decks on this market. Foil/ embossing / other upgrades will double the price.

I like this project.

[PipChick]

Are the tucks just regular glossy USPCC? With a blank white interior?

It's $5 per deck after KS fees! Why not? There are too many overpriced decks on this market. Foil/ embossing / other upgrades will double the price.

I like this project.

I'd agree that not all decks need to be decked out with all the bells and whistles all the time - that's just overkill and even so, if every single deck that hits the market features the same upgrades/embellishments as every other one, even those that are objectively far from being worthy of such features, then none really stand out as being something remarkably special; a real shame compared to those decks that include upgrades that have been thoughtfully and purposely added to enhance the design and not "just because" as we're already seeing with quite a few decks as of recent... most notably in regards to qilding that's being ostentatiously added to pretty much everything these days just to justify driving up the price of "limited edition variants" of decks that have no business featuring any such embellishments OR be costing as much as the creators are demanding for these pointless upgrades on mediocre decks... *ahem* surfboard & Maneki Neko decks *ahem* smh

Anyways, I too like this project and I too am glad to see it funding so successfully (and by a major and reliable online retailer like Will, may I add ) - but I'm not sure if I'll be jumpin' in on this campaign quite yet because, even though the price is most certainly right, pledging for a single deck on KS as opposed to waiting until it's available to purchase online with other decks on my wishlist in one order makes more fiscal sense, especially in consideration of international shipping... So even if I end up paying more for the deck on it's own, the total will be offset by the lower shipping of a combined order + less hassle. Regardless, the Vanity deck is one I'll probably be looking to pick up at some point

2019 has def proven to be the year of transformation decks and I'm all for it lol

[EndersGame]

So: I like the way these decks look, I like that someone else is doing good restoration work in addition to Home Run Games (no slight against them, but the more people in this space, the more variety and opportunities for collectors)

Well said! There's not many people reproducing beautiful historical decks, so having another publisher bringing more of these to the market place can only be a good thing!

I've liked the decks that Home Run Games has put out, but I'm also very pleased that Will Roya and PlayingCardDecks are contributing to this niche now too.

[Outsider]

I'm no expert, are these accurate reproductions of the originals? I keep coming back and thinking about these, I definitely see value in usable repros.

[macstrat]

Full Deck Scans:

Vintage faro red - https://www.flickr.com/photos/167981955 ... 1118119762" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Vintage faro blue - https://www.flickr.com/photos/167981955 ... 1117573811" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Vanity clown - https://www.flickr.com/photos/167981955 ... 1120732968" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Vanity hobgoblin - https://www.flickr.com/photos/167981955 ... 1120754608" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hustling Joe frog - https://www.flickr.com/photos/167981955 ... 1117967477" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hustling Joe gnome - https://www.flickr.com/photos/167981955 ... 1117326986" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ye witches 1-way - https://www.flickr.com/photos/167981955 ... 1117554401" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ye witches 2-way - https://www.flickr.com/photos/167981955 ... 1117534241" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Vintage Faro Prototype Green (From Pipbox) - https://www.flickr.com/photos/167981955 ... 9114625988" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Räpylätassu]

ORIGINAL 1895 VANITY FAIR DECK WITH ALL THE CARDS AND THE ORIGINAL BOX starting bid at 300 USD.

[Räpylätassu]

ORIGINAL 1895 VANITY FAIR DECK WITH ALL THE CARDS AND THE ORIGINAL BOX starting bid at 300 USD.

Starting bid is now 220 USD. Damn... This is honestly something that I might have to consider...

[Harvonsgard]

Awesome condition for a deck that old. Looks almost as issued. I would ask for more pictures though. Not my cup of tea; the courts are (intentionally) too ugly for my taste .