The return of a classic fully illustrated deck of cards!
Over 40 years ago I drew a deck of illustrated cards and sold them at Renaissance Festivals. They were popular, quickly sold out and have been unavailable for many years. This is a new edition with color illustrated backs for a TWO deck set of Renaissance Playing Cards with 54 different drawings. Yes, the face cards have 54 different illustrations drawn from the years 1066 to 1400…from the end of the Dark Ages on through the Renaissance. Plus two illustrated jester cards. And of course each deck is in its own colorful box.

Watch the video from my Kickstarter campaign here (you have to copy and paste it into the address bar):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIq7bzChVUU&lc=UgxK1S91s7TpT839fwR4AaABAg

Plus! Free Worthless Thing!
After I drew these cards, I got to thinking. Remember the Greek philosopher Euripides who said "Cleverness is not wisdom"? Well, wisdom is what you have when the money is all gone. So I thought "Why can't I write a fortune telling guide?" So I meditated on each card and when a thought made me laugh, I knew instinctively that was the right fortune. In order not to disappoint, I present it a "Free worthless thing". My lifelong philosophy, which I recommend to you, is, "If you aren't happy, lower your standards." The booklet is 24 pages long, hand-lettered from cover to cover and is included free with every deck of cards.

Specifications
First off, these are "bridge size" playing cards, which are a bit narrower than poker size. This is the size mostly used in casinos. You can play any card game with bridge size, but poker size is too large for games where you might need to hold a bunch of cards. In a few words, you can use these cards for any card game!

Playing card paper stock weight generally varies from 250 to 315 gsm (grams per square meter). Weight literally means how much a square meter of the paper weighs, so one can use it to estimate thickness, too. A heavier paper has better "snap" so I chose the premium/highest weight/greatest thickness of 315 gsm for these cards.

The paper stock is "black-centered art board" which means it is a sandwich of two outer layers of paper with a layer of black graphite in between. Multiple layers makes them stronger (like plywood) and the black center means you can't see through them (to protect even the weakest-willed from the temptation of trying to see through the cards).

They are coated on both sides with a UV-cured (ultra-violet) coating. This clear coating provides heightened gloss along with higher levels of durability. The solid nature of the coating also provides an excellent slip property to the deck of cards for easier shuffling.