Playing Card Innovation and Economy in the Era of Crowdfunding with Lee Asher
June 9th, 2016
community, magicshop, playingcards, sorcererssafari
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Woooooo! ten episodes in, what an exciting episode 10 talking about magicians best friend: playing cards!
We hung out with our great friend Lee Asher got a chance to see his collection, and speak about the innovation in playing cards happening right now. Innovation in design, feel, build, look, weight, and other specifics that are getting heard by the factories.
The economy of playing cards is promoting innovation and making it much easier for the end users to have their voices heard. If that’s a magician it means that the look of the deck he is performing with can reflect what presentation or performance style suits them. One can imagine that the wants of a flourisher and the wants of a spooky mind reading, tarot card type are completely different.
We also get a chance to speak to Lee a little bit about the Fourniers and why he made thicker cards that he likes. European Paper, Baked instead of finished, right before the crowdfunding era Lee went through the grind of making playing cards before it was cool #hipsterlee. For us, Fourniers were one of the first packs of cards that weren’t bicycle cards. They are made to last and they do!
We spoke to Lee about the way the market of playing cards works which is sort of like Beanie Babies. There is obviously not a regulated market for these things, but definitely depending on when a pack was made, how many were made and who made them, they can be worth a ton. Now multiply that by a few thousand, and you can imagine how that could add up!
Then Lee spoke to us about the organization that he’s a part of: The American Playing Cards Collectors association, or 52 plus jokers. They promote and propagate the love for playing cards. Make sure to check it out if playing cards rae your thing. It’s free to get involved, and cheap to be a member, and the gbenefits are endless. They have magazines conventions and other amazing resources for people who love playing cards!
If you want to start learning history, information, news or anything else there is an incredible forum called Playing Card Forum, run by 52 plus Jokers. It’s totally free to join, and every question you could ever have about playing cards has already been asked and answered on there. And if I’m wrong, go ahead and ask it!
If you want to really dig deep, there is the Hochman Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards which is the most thorough encyclopedia on the subject to date
As well, if you live anywhere near Toronto, and this is your thing, there’s an awesome meetup soon happening at browsers den. They’re hosting the Toronto Playing Card Meetup on June 12th, 2016. Please check it out, there are going to be some awesome people there including Lee himself and other playing card enthusiasts around the area.
In addition, Browsers Den and Lee Asher paired up and gave an incredible playing card collecting guide. Take a look at it to spark your interest in collecting cards, and all the fun and finesse that goes with it.
