A deck of playing cards might not seem like something collectible or highly valuable, but there is a thriving community of playing card enthusiasts who seek out and collect beautiful, limited edition playing cards. These rare decks of playing cards look nothing like the run-of-the-mill cards the average person has lying around the house. Instead, these limited decks feature elegant and unique art work and designs.
They’re incredibly popular in the magic community and typically sell out right away. While original retail price for these rare decks is usually only like $15 or $20, once they end up on the resale market, they go for hundreds of dollars. In some cases, these cards even sell for $1,000! The following list features some of the most expensive and rarest playing cards ever.
- The Boss Deck
- Smoke & Mirrors Gold Private Reserve
- Red Fontaine
- David Blaine’s “Create Magic”
- White Centurions
- Zenith
- Unbranded Black Reserve Note
- Fontaine Futures 500
- Venexiana Gold
- Scarlett Tally-Ho Legacy Edition
Current Estimated Value: $100+
Year Released: 2013
Manufacturer: United States Playing Card Company
Designer: Ashley Edge and Elinor Rooks
photo source: Kardify
The Boss Deck was a special backer add-on released as part of the Draw Like a Boss Kickstarter campaign from artists Ashley Edge and Elinor Rooks. The unique deck featured Edge’s and Rooks’ artwork and was limited to only 2,500 units. The Boss Deck was printed by United States Playing Card Company on Bicycle cards.
Did you know?
Draw Like a Boss is a fun course run by Ashley Edge and Elinor Rooks that teaches people how to “draw like a boss.”
Current Estimated Value: $270 – $350
Year Released: 2013
Manufacturer: The D&D Playing Card Co. (printed by the United States Playing Card Company)
Designer: Si Scott
photo source: Dan and Dave webite
Smoke & Mirrors were the first signature line of cards released by magicians Dan and Dave. In 2013, Dan and Dave released a special Smoke & Mirrors Gold Private Reserve deck. The cards featured touches of gold in place of traditional colors. Only 2,500 Smoke & Mirrors Gold Private Reserve decks were produced and they were initially not available to the general public. The only way to get the Gold Private Reserve cards was to visit Dan and Dave’s private showroom through appointment. However, Dan and Dave came out with a second edition of the Smoke & Mirrors Gold Private Reserve deck and sold them on their website.
Did you know?
The Smoke & Mirrors deck started out as Dan and Dave’s personal deck and the cards features original artwork from Si Scott that was custom tailored to meet Dan and Dave’s taste.
Current Estimated Value: $400 – $600
Year Released: 2013
Manufacturer: Zach Mueller
Designer: Zach Mueller
photo source: House of Playing Cards
Today, Fontaine Cards is one of the most popular brand of collectible/limited edition decks of playing cards. The brand was launched in 2013 by Zach Mueller when he released the (now highly coveted) Red Fontaine deck through an Indie Go-Go campaign. Mueller, who is also a magician, first used the Red Fontaine cards in a video he posted to YouTube. Fans were intrigued by Mueller’s mystery deck and wouldn’t stop asking him where he got them from. Mueller decided to launch an indie campaign to fund production of the Red Fontaine deck. This deck gave rise to Mueller’s Fontaine Cards brand.
Did you know?
According to Zach Mueller, the design of the Red Fontaine cards were inspired by Wynn Casino Playing Cards, Jerry’s Nugget Playing Cards, and a touch of his first ever card magic release “Fontaine.”
Current Estimated Value: $800 – $1,000
Year Released: 2015
Manufacturer: Expert Playing Card Company
Designer: David Blaine
photo source: Decks On Decks
Did you know?
Reportedly, David Blaine said that not all of the 2,015 Create Magic decks were given out at the Microsoft event and in the years since the event, Blaine has occasionally released a limited number of these decks for sale.
Current Estimated Value: $600 – $800
Year Released: 2008
Manufacturer: Theory 11
Designer: Theory 11
photo source: Theory 11
The White Centurions deck from Theory 11 was a limited edition version of the brand’s popular Bicycle Centurions playing cards. Only 1,100 White Centurions decks were printed and they immediately sold out. The White Centurions design is exactly the same as Theory 11’s regular Centurions deck, except the colors have been inverted with a white background and black designs. The deck comes with a custom Ace of Spades, two custom jokers, special colored court cards and a white/black double backed gaff card.
Did you know?
The White Centurions deck made its debut in magician Chris Kenner’s 1-on-1 effect Blueprint trick and fans expressed interest in buying the cards for themselves.
Current Estimated Value: $240+
Year Released: 2014
Manufacturer: Encarded (printed by the Expert Playing Card Company)
Designer: Paul Carpenter
photo source: Encarded
Did you know?
The Zenith cards were housed in a special sideways opening tuck box, made of thick matte black paper, adorned with amazingly detailed and vibrant holographic silver foil.
Current Estimated Value: $250 – $300
Year Released: 2013
Manufacturer: Kings Wild Project
Designer: Jackson Robinson
photo source: Kardify
Federal 52 Part 2 was the follow up to Jackson Robinson’s wildly popular Federal 52 card series, which featured artwork based on American banknotes. Robinson released a few editions of the Federal 52 Part 2 cards, and the rarest was the Unbranded Black Reserve Note deck. There were only 1,000 of these Unbranded Black Reserve Note decks produced and they were quickly snatched up through Robinson’s Kickstarter campaign. Nearly a decade later, the Unbranded Black Reserve Note deck is still highly sought after and they can go for as much as $300 on the resale market.
Did you know?
In 2019, Jackson Robinson released a limited number of Black Reserve Note Green Edition decks, as a follow up to the popular Unbranded Black Reserve Note deck, to subscribers of Kings Wild Shorts.
Current Estimated Value: $250 – $350
Year Released: 2019
Manufacturer: Fontaine Cards
Designer: Fontaine Cards
photo source: blackmarketdecks.com
In 2019, Fontaine Cards released limited edition decks in blind bags, which was unique in the playing card community. They dubbed the collection, Fontaine Futures and there were six different decks with different production numbers. The rarest of the Fontaine Futures cards was the 500 deck, which had a low production run of 500 units. The design of the Fontain Futures 500 featured a blue, red, and white color scheme. The back of the cards said: “THERE ARE ONLY 500 OF THIS DECK.”
Did you know?
In total the Fontaine Futures collection had 10,500 blind bags and the designs were: Parrot Edition, Floral Edition, Window Edition, Polka Edition, Glitch Edition, and 500 Edition.
Current Estimated Value: $425+
Year Released: 2014
Manufacturer: Half Moon Playing Cards
Designer: Lotrek
photo source: Kickstarter
Due to the difficulty of applying the gold foil to the cards, only 212 decks of the Venexiana Gold cards were produced through Kickstarter and they immediately sold out. Today, the Venexiana Gold deck is incredibly hard to find and sells for hundreds of dollars on resale sites.
Did you know?
When Lotrek asked card manufacturers why there weren’t any playing cards with gold foil on the backs, he was told that it was impossible. Eventually, Lotrek found a workshop that was able to manually apply the gold foil.
Current Estimated Value: $650+
Year Released: 2015
Manufacturer: Kings Wild Project
Designer: Jackson Robinson
photo source: Kickstarter
With only 50 decks produced, the Scarlett Tally-Ho Legacy Edition is the rarest and most expensive deck of playing cards ever. The Scarlett Tally-Ho Legacy Edition deck was released as part of a 2015 Kickstarter campaign by designer Jackson Robinson. The cards were produced by Kings Wild Project, which makes some of the most beautiful, collectible playing cards in the industry.
The Scarlett Tally-Ho cards were available in three different variations: 700 standard Limited Edition decks, 200 Gold Edition decks, and only 50 Legacy Edition decks. The Scarlett Tally-Ho Legacy Edition cards featured an embossed finish, gold foil gilded edges, two metallic gold inks on the face cards, and one metallic gold ink on the back design. The Legacy Edition cards also came in a special handmade wooden case.
Did you know?
The Scarlett Tally-Ho cards were named after Jackson Robinson’s daughter Scarlett, who he named after his love for the color red.
