I don't know the year, but it was back in the early 1990's. I was in a grocery store and there was a stand of Jurassic Park items in some random isle. There was a deck of playing cards there, and they caught my eye. I thought they were really interesting, and put them in my cart.
A while later, I don't know how long, I was in another grocery store, and at the checkout counter, they had decks of Coke playing cards hanging from a peg at the register. I thought, those are cool, and put them on the belt.
Next thing I knew, I was collecting decks of playing cards.
When I finally get to those decks, I'll come back to this page, and link to their entries.
How I collect
I collect full decks. Except for one playing card that I have that I bought off eBay. I thought it was an entire deck, but I only received one. I went back and looked at the listing, and it was quite clearly an auction for that one card. I paid far too much for one card (I don't remember how much).
Some decks are normal decks with an interesting back. Like the Buffalo cards I recently purchased. I only buy one deck of that type of card, and it will stay sealed.
Other decks have unique faces on them. Like how the Indian Jones deck features pictures from the movies. Those I will try and pick up two decks for. On deck stays sealed, and the other is opened.
I think the majority of my cards are gifts. I appreciate those so much. I will open a single deck if it was a gift and has interesting faces. This wasn't always the case. But, as I explain in the 75 Years of Fun deck, it's not like these things are going to fetch top dollar just because they aren't sealed.
Some of the decks I've received have been historic decks that are worth a little bit of money. The Kennedy Kards are worth about $30, for example. There's no way I'm selling them, though.
How I'm Cataloging Them
I've been meaning to do this for years, but it's a massive undertaking, and the only means I could think of to get pictures would be with my scanner. But that would take forever, and would entail standing there for hours on end.
Then I designed and 3D printed a little rig for taking pictures with my phone. I borrowed a light from my wife, and point it at a piece of paper under the rig. My phone stays on top, I slide a card under, take the picture, take that card out, lather, rinse, repeat.
Why don't you crop them?
I'm taking literally thousands of pictures. If I have two decks that have unique faces, that's over 100 pictures right there. I just don't have the time to do it.
I've tried some software products that will auto crop for you. The free ones I could use did not do an accurate job, and I had to adjust the crop on every single one.
So I'm posting the pictures un-cropped.
