deck-14-01


This month we waited until the very last day to make this page, hoping that a antique deck would arrive. We had bought it on January 18 from an American seller and had immediately paid for it. It was send out a day later and we had good hopes it would arrive in time. But alas, and now we suddenly had to choose another deck. We hadn't bought a substantial number of decks, so the choice was rather limited. For a moment we thought of applying the same trick as last month. We had bought		the Facts & Fancy deck, which we already have in our collection, for reselling. It's a not often seen deck anymore, in which the design of each card refers to a famous or well known deck of cards. It was published in 1961 in a limited edition by the Chicago Playing Card Collectors Club and was designed by Dick Martin, an illustrator and club member. We also bought a vintage PEP Boys deck, which we thought we had, but it turned out to be a variation, so now to be seen in "Variations".

Our shortlist didn't have any other antique or vintage decks on it and, as said, we didn't want to use the same trick twice in a row, so we had to pick a modern deck this time. For the record we should mention a Piatnik deck with 54 vintage Whisky brands advertising posters and of course the "Mazing Playing Cards", printed by the USPCC and published on Bicycle brand stock by the artist himself. We helped to fund this deck on Kickstarter. Our chosen one was also produced by the USPCC and published on the Bicycle brand stock by RSVP Magic as "Butterfly" in 2012. The artist is mentioned on the box: Lotrék. This name is probably a pseudonym, as it phonetically sounds like Lautrec, possibly a reference to the famous French post-impressionist painter and illustrator Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

But the floral elements and the elegantly curled hair in the designs rather refer to the Art Deco period than to the post-impressionist days. The chosen type font for the indices is in sync. A little depth is created by letting parts of the design overlap the border of the background. Only two basic colors are used besides the black and white: a light green in the black suits and a pale orange in the red suits. Not only are the figures on the courts presented as humanoid butterflies, but on seven of them there's a butterfly -literally- at hand too.

All the figures in the red suits have light hair and in the black suits all have dark hair, except the Queen of Spades. Her figure was probably designed for the box and backs first and then -lazy Lotrék- later used for the QS too.

Only the Ace of Spades has a special design, the others aces are plain. There are two similar jokers and there are two extra cards too: one with a blank face and one with the back design on both sides (a "double backer"). These extra cards allow magicians to use the deck in their usual routines.

The cards are air cushion finished, so we don't show them enlarged here, to avoid the white spotted grid interfering with the beauty of the design.

RSVP Magic was founded by Russ Stevens and has also published other decks, like de Dark Deco deck and the Timeless Deck. Both may be used for magic tricks, the latter for special tricks. They can be ordered through the RSVP Magic website.

< Front of the box.

This month we have received further information about the Deck of the Month of November 2013 and added a further comparison with contemporary decks there.
So..... check it out.