Maxfield Parrish Playing Cards (Poker Deck 54 Cards All Different) Vintage Panting Art

Got these as a stocking stuffer for my sister, loved the quality of the prints and card stock. Great set of cards!

For me, this is a nearly perfect deck of cards. EVERY card has beautiful art (as far as I can tell, it's all ~100+ years old, public domain art, but that is no criticism, it's beautiful, and most of the works of the great masters are now out of copyright and belong to the ages). You get 54 separate, lovely portraits (every card, even the pips, has its own portrait, that includes the full standard poker deck and two jokers). If I had any complaint, it would be that the backs are "only" a nice cloudscape (blue sky, with painted white clouds marching across -- very nice, but arguably not a full painting in its own right). Others might complain that the tuck box is shipped flat and has to be folded into shape (perfectly fine and easy, no worries), or that the cards are paper-y and not very (if at all) plastic-coated. (This is also fine, I think. They may not last white as long, but they feel more real and substantial in the hand, and the ink seems robust and glossy itself, so, none of the beauty of the cards is lost). I like plastic coated cards, and I even have a few all-plastic decks, but there is no substitute for good, thick paper stock like these. I'm definitely going to consider getting more decks from this company, I couldn't be happier with this reasonably priced, well-delivered, beautiful deck.

Now the cards actually slide against each other (their earlier choice of stock would not, the cards would stick together). The plain cardboard boxes with stickers hastily slapped on them would be cheap if they were not iconic (so they get a 'unique artistic' pass!). Fun is how the shipping packages are stamped, 'If undeliverable, return to New Zealand'), so they may take a while to arrive (East Coast U.S, here).

I will be using these as a fortune telling deck. Gypsy Oracle style. 😸

There are unique pictures on each card, standard poker cards, plus two jokers and two blank cards (backs only). The back is kinda lame as it is not symmetrical so there is a upside and downside, it also isn't a standout design either (see pictures). But the fronts are all cool, looking like hand-painted scenery of Japan. I also made a video on YouTube, but Amazon won't let me link to it.

These playing cards are of high quality, durable and pay tribute to the stunning lithographs. 👍

Shipped from New Zealand, it didn't arrive as quickly as I had hoped but it was a gift and gratefully received. Love the artwork.

Thankfully I didn't buy this deck of cards to use for playing card games. I was interested in the Japanese prints depicted on the cards. I will be using this deck to draw random numbers for another game that is Japanese themed.If I had bought these to play cards with I would be returning them instead of writing this review. Very poor card stock, nowhere near a Bicycle or other higher quality card. You can actually tell these were die cut because the edges are rough on the backside of the card. I don't think you would want to riffle shuffle these cards if you want them to last. Some board games come with cards like this, and the first thing I do is put them into sleeves. Not doing that with these playing cards.So beware. The generic cardboard card box with sticker labels on it was a dead giveaway before I even took them out of the box. Too bad, I really like the art on the cards.