Many of us may be familiar with Vanishing Inc, which is one of the biggest magic retailers in the world. But Vanishing Inc isn't just about magic. They also have a love for playing cards, and have contributed to the playing card industry themselves by producing several delightful custom decks under their own Vanishing Inc label.
The first of these was the Dapper Deck, a classy and elegant marked deck for magicians with discerning taste. Their World Tour set was a highly customized set of five decks that celebrated exotic places around the world, and had a fun back story about a travelling entertainer in 1902. The Dead Man's deck was a tribute to the classic legend about Wild Bill Hickok and his famous "Dead Man's Hand". Last year they released their exquisite Feather Deck: Goldfinch Edition, another classy deck that made good use of luxurious metallic ink.
But with their new Vélo Playing Card Storage Solution, Vanishing Inc may just be making their most important contribution to the playing card industry yet. The name itself alludes to the rich and storied history of playing cards, with Vélo being the French word for Bicycle, a nod to what is arguably the most famous playing card brand of them all. This product is not just another deck of cards, however, but a flexible and attractive storage solution.
Let me warn you in advance: this isn't a budget item that comes cheap. It's a high quality item that is geared to meeting the needs of the discerning collector, with a price tag to match. But for serious collectors looking for a high quality product that doubles as a storage solution and a beautiful display of your favourite and most-prized decks, the good news is that you need look no further than the Vélo.
So what exactly is the Vélo? It can best be described as a modular storage cabinet, which consists of several layers. Each separate layer (the Vélo Clear at the top, and the Vélo Stacks underneath) has dimensions of 14in x 12in x 5in. You can stack up to as many as eight layers, each of which can house exactly 12 decks each, or as many as 24 decks if you remove the custom insert and store the decks flat. All parts of the Vélo cabinet are made out of a darkly stained wood, for good looks and a quality feel.
Let's begin with the "Vélo Clear", which is the top layer, and was created to be at the top of the stack.
This has a clear acrylic style lid, through which we get a full view of the dozen gorgeous decks that we choose to put on display. It opens up with the help of two gorgeous shiny chrome hinges, which add to the classy look and feel.
Inside the Vélo Clear, and also inside each of the other layers, is a maroon coloured insert, to help position our favourite decks for best viewing. The insert itself has the look and feel of red velvet, much like you might expect inside a jewellery box.
One of the clever features of this insert is that instead of placing the 12 decks flat, the three rows of four decks each are all placed on a slight angle, to optimize their display. It's a small touch, but really adds to the overall impression of seeing a dozen decks on display. The clear acrylic window ensures that you can view them in all their glory, and yet they are well protected from dust, and from your junior nephew's dirty fingers and curious touch.
All in all, the Vélo Clear on its own makes for a gorgeous display of a dozen favourite decks. However, this is just our first layer, and the Vélo is only going to get bigger and better from here.
Next comes the "Vélo Stack", which is a separate layer that goes underneath the Vélo Clear. Instead of a hinged lid, this time we get a chrome knob at the front, which we'll use to pull out a drawer. The setup inside the drawer is much the same as the Vélo Clear: there's room for three rows of four decks, again angled for display purposes. Since each drawer is around 4.5cm deep, you can remove the insert if you really want to, and stack decks two high, for a total of 24 decks in each drawer.
The nice thing is that you can purchase as many of the Vélo Stacks as you wish, because they are stackable on top of each other.
I've got three of the Vélo Stacks, plus the Vélo Clear on top. So my cabinet can store 48 decks altogether, with the top twelve being visible through the acrylic window at the top. This seems like a good number to me, because it creates an overall square look. But if you're ambitious the ad copy says you can have as many as eight layers altogether.
Each of the Vélo layers has considerable heft, because they are solidly made out of wood. The bottom of each layer has four screws, around which are rubber feet. These four screws slot neatly into the top of each Vélo Stacks, to ensure that each layer can't move around. So no assembly is required, you just pop the layers on top of each other, where they'll fit snugly together, and you're ready to go.
One word of caution: the rubber feet surrounding the screws on the base of each section do help the top layers fit snugly together, but don't really do much functionally for the very bottom layer of your stack, because the units actually rest on the screws rather than the rubber feet. That's not an issue with the top layers, but I would recommend placing a small felt pad underneath the four screws underneath your very bottom Vélo Stack. Otherwise you'll risk scratching the table that the entire cabinet is placed on, as a result of the small movement that is inevitable when you open the drawers.
If I had a criticism about this product, it would be about the drawers. The ones I received were quite stiff, and not that easy to open and close. I've been told that they will loosen up over time, and perhaps others don't have this issue.
The price of the Vélo Modular Deck Display and Storage System will put this out of reach for many consumers, since top layer (Vélo Clear) checks in at $149.95, and each drawer that you add (Vélo Stack) costs $99.95 each. However this isn't intended to be a budget style storage solution, but a luxury cabinet for the discerning collector. Smart consumers could always wait for a sale to take advantage of a discount, but there will be collectors for whom money isn't an object, and will be happy to buy this regardless, knowing that they're getting a luxury product that will enable them to store and display some of their favourite decks in the best way possible.
