January 2009
We didn't expect
to find anything interesting at the collectors bourse. In our opinion that's the
best approach, as it doesn't cause any disappointment and can only bring joy if
you do find something. And we had a few joyous moments there.
We have found decks
that were hidden in the strangest boxes and as a result we have the habit of
opening quite a few boxes when we cruise along the stalls. One of them was a box
that had a larger shape than usual, a red painted top on a yellow holder and 4
black balls as feet. Not at all an inviting box for a card collector, but we
opened it anyway.......et voilį: two of these -not that often seen- decks were
waiting there for inspection and counting. But the best thing of the deal was
that we didn't have to take the box!
When we first saw the pattern, it looked
quite familiar, so initially we took the decks along for trading. But when we
got home and looked up the familiar looking deck, we found that there were quite
some differences in the pattern. If you want to judge for yourself, that deck is
only a CLICK away.
Another interesting deck for us was found on Ebay. It's the first edition of the Izlensk Spil. We have two editions in our collection (to see in our "Yuletide on Iceland" xpo), but this first edition contained one card, the 7 of Hearts, that makes the difference. So, because we couldn't present a "Card of the Month" here, we've chosen our cleverly hidden deck as "Deck of the Month".
It was printed and published by the Vereinigte Stralsunder Spielkartenfabriken, probably around 1890. Their company logo is on the Queen of Clubs. The deck comes with a set of Portuguese aces. It's the same set as in the familiar looking deck, but here the black and white design has been colored with a vague blue and pink.
ENJOY!
