- One of my insane obsessions is with playing cards.
I have thousands and thousands of playing cards
worth probably well over $10,000.
In fact, every single deck that you see in this video
right here, has not been opened.
These are all unopened decks of cards.
Now the question you're probably asking yourself is, why?
Why so many playing cards?
Well, I'm gonna try to break down the answer
as simple as I possibly can.
Let's start with the investment.
Cards like these or these
and these, and these, and these,
and this one here, and these,
all these cards were purchased originally
for about $10 or $15 each.
Have a look at Ebay and some of them are fetching hundreds,
sometimes even thousands of dollars.
So it's very easy to understand
that when printing playing cards,
you're basically printing money.
Let's start with Kickstarter.
Each one of these decks
has been successfully funded on Kickstarter.
Kickstarter is a crowd funding platform,
which allows you to fund the projects
that you wanna fund.
Well some of these decks fetch from $120
up to $190,000 dollars of crowd funding.
Mind you, the designs were very ornate
and very well thought of
and the campaigns in general, were very well put together.
A deck like this would normally sell on Kickstarter
for about $12 to $15,
but about one year after it's been sold on Kickstarter,
the value will have multiplied tenfold.
Just like these ones over here,
right now on Ebay are going for roughly $200 a deck.
Now there are a lot of collectables
in the playing card world, such as uncut sheets.
Basically these are proofs of the playing card
before they go into the cutting stage.
Many people like to collect them
and hang them up as art on their walls.
You can also get some very cool playing card holders,
such as these lucite cases,
which look good on your desk,
or even store them within bottles.
Now these are sealed bottles,
sealed decks within sealed bottles,
handcrafted by Jamie D. Grant, these are incredible.
You'll waste your day looking for the seam in the glass
but trust me, the glass has not been tampered with
to get these in there.
Other cool things you can do with playing cards
is slap 'em onto skateboards like this one here.
Hang 'em up on your wall, more art.
So if you take a step back,
we're left with three different kinds of decks that I use.
We're left with the deck I perform magic with,
a deck that I carry around everyday
for more of a casual situation,
and a deck for card flourishing, or cardistry.
Let's take a look at the decks I use for magic.
Now, normally these are very, very standard playing cards,
like bicycle playing cards or anything
that doesn't draw too much attention to the eye.
Because when performing for spectators,
anything out of the ordinary
will draw unnecessary attention.
The back designs as well as the face designs
are usually very standard and easily recognizable.
Having these unassuming decks makes the magic
a little bit more accessible for lay people,
as they see a trick and they're not distracted
by the design of the cards
or the fact that the cards look fishy.
Everything looks like a deck your grandma would have
in her underwear drawer,
maybe not the underwear drawer.
And because I perform with these decks,
they have to feel good and they have to handle well.
And also I tend to use them a lot in performances,
so cards will get destroyed.
They will also get signed on by the spectator,
which is the reason I have so many of the exact same deck,
'cause I use them.
Now let's take a look at the more casual decks.
The casual decks I use will usually have a really
nice design, sometimes simple, sometimes intricate,
but for the most part are a little bit too ornate
or too flashy for magic performances.
All in all, these are my favorite types of cards
because you can do cardistry with them,
you can do magic to your friends,
and it's something that I always have in my pocket.
As simple as they can look,
you can also get cards that are more luxurious looking,
something you don't want the spectator signing.
Another reason I like these cards so much
is because I like to match with my cards.
Now I know that that sounds a bit obsessive,
but I see cards as an accessory,
as an extension of my style.
So before I go out and I get ready to hit the town
or spend some time with my friends,
I take a look at what I have on
and then I try to match the deck to go with it.
Again, this isn't necessary, but it's one of the reasons
I love to have so many unique playing cards,
is that I can accessorize with my playing cards.
And lastly, but not leastly, is cardistry.
These cards are very, very flashy looking.
The designs do not normally lend themselves
to someone who wants to perform magic.
They'll usually shape some type of geometrical design
that makes it really cool when fanning them out,
and if you take a look at the faces and the backs
they are nowhere near standard.
They're usually very, very unique and custom made,
more to attract the eye
because cardistry is something that will attract the eye
and is not magic, so you don't really care
if they can't read the faces.
Basically the flashier, the better.
If these things look good in motion,
chances are cardists are using them.
Now I could drag this video on for another ten minutes
and talk about the different reasons
why I have all these playing cards,
but as you can see, I'm a bit obsessed.
Playing cards are an extension of my professional,
my personal life.
I could use a deck of cards to tell you a story
or I can show you a deck of cards
and it holds a story on its own.
Why do you like cards?
Alright, so to wrap things up guys,
that was basically a very, very basic rundown
of why I have so many cards and why I collect them.
Many reasons to get into,
I didn't go too much into detail,
but hopefully you guys enjoyed that video
and you found it somewhat informative.
So if you did like this video,
go ahead and hit the like button below
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and we'll see you on the next video.
Alright guys, peace.
(smooth techno music)