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About 6 weeks ago I stumbled onto a card magic video on Youtube. The person in the video was using a beautiful deck I had never seen before. (Theory11 Monarchs) He provided a link to the site he purchased the cards from. I followed it and here I am. I was immediately enthralled with collectable cards and card magic. I had no idea there were such beautiful cards out there. I also had no idea how expensive this obsession would turn out to be....

I am totally new to this and my meager collection is tiny compared to the rest of you folks, but I am on my way. I found the Federal 52 series a couple weeks ago. My wallet is still smoking. I've managed to get 2 decks of the White Reserve Notes, 1 Silver Certificate and I have 2 Federal 52 Brandeds on the way as we speak. SO far I have about $140 wrapped up in just this series and I still need 2 Black Reserves, 2 Gold Certificates and 1 more Silver certificate. One of each will stay sealed of course.

Anyyway, I will stop rambling. I'm glad I found some folks who seem to share my obsession and am looking forward to being here. so..... greetings and felicitations fellow children of the arcane arts....

Welcome...

Don't worry ! Everyone starts off somewhere ! A piece of advice to all new collectors, start small, choose wisely there's no need to get every deck there is out there unless your name is CBJ

I wasn't around when the Reserve Notes and Federal decks started on kickstarter (I only got into this card business one month ago myself and I only have three decks) but I made sure that I wouldn't miss out on the next release by the same creator - The Independence; which will set me back $200 and change. When starting my collection I set myself a goal of getting two decks of each individual release, why two? Mainly on the principle of wanting to use the deck and not keep it in "the basement". And since there are four different sets in The Independence, my principle will cost me some.

Welcome!

Thanks for all of the welcomes.

@Volantangel The urge to get all of the decks that catch my eye is a strong one. Since I am so taken with the Federal 52 series I am concentrating on those. My two decks of Branded Federal 52s came in today. I still need one more Silver, Two gold Certificates and a Black Reserve. All branded. Which brings me to a question. Sometimes it seems the Branded are more desirable and sometimes the unbranded. I am basing this on the selling prices. From a collectors standpoint is the a rule of thumb as to which is better or more collectable? I don't care about future value as I will never be selling these.

@Norbie I am of the same opinion. These cards are too nice to leave in the tuck box. Since I can't help myself I get two of each. The exception will be the Black Reserves. The cards are the same as the White Reserves and I have two of them.

OK, since I can't sleep I'm going to give a little more detail about myself. Feel free to skip it.....

Real name: John

Profession: PC Technician extraordinaire

Languages spoken: English, Spanish (mostly)

Languages butchered: German

Languages in which I can say "thank you": 44

Languages I can count to at least 1 million in: 3

Languages I can count to ten in: 5

Famous people I have met: David Crosby, Jimmy Walker, Mariska Hargitay, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, Ozzy Osbourne, Brian Lumley, Frank Sinatra, Mike Tyson, George Foreman and various heavy metal celebities you folks likely wouldn't know..........

Man I gotta lay off the red bulls............

EDIT: Thanks for the move. Should have thought of that myself!

{merged topics - mcj}

volantangel wrote:Don't worry ! Everyone starts off somewhere ! A piece of advice to all new collectors, start small, choose wisely there's no need to get every deck there is out there unless your name is CBJ

not every deck... every "Bicycle" deck!

You'd be surprised how many unbranded decks I pass on

CBJ wrote:

volantangel wrote:Don't worry ! Everyone starts off somewhere ! A piece of advice to all new collectors, start small, choose wisely there's no need to get every deck there is out there unless your name is CBJ

not every deck... every "Bicycle" deck!

You'd be surprised how many unbranded decks I pass on

This is what plays in CBJ's head when he finds a new Bicycle deck

MagikFingerz wrote:

CBJ wrote:

volantangel wrote:Don't worry ! Everyone starts off somewhere ! A piece of advice to all new collectors, start small, choose wisely there's no need to get every deck there is out there unless your name is CBJ

not every deck... every "Bicycle" deck!

You'd be surprised how many unbranded decks I pass on

This is what plays in CBJ's head when he finds a new Bicycle deck

LMAO! Well played sir!