For those of you who didn’t know, it’s National Playing Card Collection Day (NPCCD) today (October 17th)! NPCCD celebrates the collection of one of the oldest forms of portable art (circa 1200s). Playing cards are literal galleries of art and inspiration, showing and communicating the intentions of an artist to the public while also archiving the cultural values of their time. Collecting these art pieces allow us to be curators of our own galleries to display representing different checkpoints in time. These collections can be seen as extensions of the collector and this day is a time to celebrate and share their collections to the public.
To celebrate this special day, Alex Chin has released the 2018 Official NPCCD Deck. The deck was first unveiled during the 52 Plus Joker Convention in Cleaveland, Ohio. On the design inspiration, Alex said,
The design started with the initial sketches that led me to play around with the classic Vase or Face illusion that deals with foreground and background perception. From there the design theme got further entrenched into the idea of playing with perspective on a level that we have not yet seen before in the card world. I wanted to create something TRULY special that others haven’t seen before and ended up creating the 2018 NPCCD series featuring the world’s first light filter deck that literally changes design based on the box that you receive.
The theme of the series is about PERSPECTIVE and what we see. Since the holiday is about sharing with the world how we see cards as art, Alex created a piece that displayed that sentiment. The result is a truly remarkable deck that literally changes your perspective based on the filter each person sees noting that we can see the same design differently based on these filters.
The deck is fully custom and meticulously designed. The back design features a mobius strip that reveals a sphere of 2 heads. Inside the head of one person is the exterior head of another represented by different colors. Small suit symbols hide in them and are revealed to show what they are thinking about which change based on which “reality box” you use. There is a crown above each head and a line of chess pieces that head the top and bottom of the card. They are interspliced with one another to mimic columns.
The Aces is meant to blend the lines where the box stops and the cards begin. It shows through the front facing window. Each bulb of the club holds a different chess piece. In total it holds 6 different chess pieces but will only show specific ones based on which reality it is in. The red filter boxes will show the King while the blue filter boxes feature the Queen.
The beautiful tuck box features gold and silver intaglio engraving onto astral pearl stock that exudes a feeling of luxury. Each box contains 2 large die-cut windows featuring either a red or blue “worldview” that shows the deck inside. According to Alex,
The color of this window is what determines the design of your deck. The tuck flap is a side loading custom die that is shaped like the famous ribbon face. It is part of the innovative “kinetic diecut window” I designed which allows the diecut to change shape through layering. The opened window shows more information on the cards. When closed it completes the illusion of a pawn chess piece between the faces.
There are 6 different decks! Each one represented by a different chess piece shown on the back. 2 decks feature all red filter box. 2 decks feature all blue filter box. 2 decks feature a mix of one red and one blue filter on the box.
The white and black decks are hand gilded in red, blue, and holographic. Only 500 of each deck is run. Orders are mystery deck. You don’t know what color you will get. There will be a Special Supporter pricing for the first 48 hours. Head to NationalCardCollectionDay.com on October 17th to cop these stunning decks. Don’t miss out!
