Alta Carta

The Alternative for the Playing Card Collector

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In this chapter I have some tips that might be useful when buying old playing cards. Of course it will not harm if you use these recommendations when purchasing new cards as well. Beside the price there are two things that you should pay attention to. They are Completeness and Condition. Completeness With old card games you often take in consideration that they are not complete. Sometimes hundreds of Euros are paid even though sometimes even court cards are missing. Before buying each collector should decide whether he really wants an incomplete deck in his collection. From country to country the age limit must be set differently from when on missing cards are justified. In Germany the border it is set at the year 1879. In my opinion a game produced from this year on should always be complete. If not, then it is only worth the fraction of a complete game. But was belongs to a complete deck? All Playing Cards With all playing cards in this context means the cards that really are used for playing. That is all court cards and pips. In detail watch out for the following details: The 6es for Games with 36 Cards. If such a deck was used for example Skat, the 6es that were not used for playing, were often thrown away. This especially happened to Bavarian, Franconian and Salzburg patterns that now are sold with only 32 cards. But it can happen with any deck that some cards are missing. Any Cards. Always count the number of cards from an offered deck! If you reach a suspicious number (e.g. not dividable through 4 without Jokers), then you better check, what cards in particular are included and what is missing. Always also look at the backs. An often used trick is that missing cards were added from a different deck. Additional Cards Under additional cards I understand cards that are not or only occasionally used to play with. In particular: Joker. Are at the Anglo-American pattern or any other 52-card-game with French suits all Jokers included? Attention! Only very old games have no Jokers. This card was invented about 1900. What was printed afterwards always (or most of the time) has at least one Joker. If an offered 52-card-game has no Joker, it is most likely that it was lost or sold separately (Jokers are very wanted colleting items); except the vendor can give you a plausible reason why this deck does not have a Joker. In the meantime many card games with Latin suits also have a Joker included. In Spain, where he is called "Comodín", to the 48-card-games 2 Jokers are inserted. On the packing the information "50 cartas" is printed. Cover Card. Especially with happy families and black Peter games there is a cover card that goes with the game. But nowadays with many new standard games and especially non standard cards a cover card belongs to the deck. When this is missing, the game is not complete. Further Cards. There are card games that have other cards included. These can show rules of the game or just have manufacturer information. Of course also these special cards belong to a complete game. Booklets or Instructions. Usually with Tarots and other fortune telling such information is provided. Original Box or Wrapper. Mostly this is missing with old card games and this is quite accepted. But with newer games the box is also part of a complete deck, except if it is just a plastic box that has no identification that it belongs exactly to this game. Examples of additional cards: manufacturer card of Piatnik, Fournier and Dal Negro Condition Is the game in good condition? Does it have any defect that is hidden? Often these things are wrong with playing cards: creases, handwritten modifications, not all cards from the same deck (can be seen easily when looking at the backs), certain cards that changed colour, stains, tears or even missing corners. Of course this specification is not complete. Often games that have such mistakes are sold to inexperienced collectors. The weaknesses are kept secret and the full price is nevertheless demanded. If you notice something that is wrong, the defect is mostly played down. I once discovered a crease on a card of an old unused game. "Oh! This little mistake is not worth mentioning" was the comment of the seller. Wrong! Exactly such mistakes are worth talking about and in doubt it is better not to buy the cards. Something else they like to hide from you is when one single card of a deck has discoloured. Such colour changes can happen when the same card was on the top of the deck for many years. The white background has changed to yellow over the year because of the light. Such games cannot be sold to other collectors, but they are sold at full price to a beginner without having a bad conscience! The conclusion is clear. Especially when you buy an old and/or expensive game check each card separately! Look for (hidden) mistakes! Ask for a substantial price reduction or do not buy at all, if you discover something that is wrong! If the vendor says that this defective is already priced in, only believe him if he told you before you discovered it! Also take a look at the printing quality! Were there any shifts when the separate colours were printed? Are the pictures in the centre of the card? Such mistakes of course also justify a lower price. Examples for poorly printed cards. Left: The colours run over the black borders. Right: Badly centred card; top 2 mm, bottom 6 mm to the edge You can be a little less careful with new cards. On one hand the absolute prices are not that high and on the other hand these cards rarely are rarities. Nevertheless it does not harm to take a closer look in this case. You want to enjoy you cards and do not want to be upset every time you look at them. Once your collection reached a certain size, the next question that comes in mind is: How Do I Maintain an Overview?

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