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For posterity's sake: https://www.wopc.co.uk/usa/the-united-s ... norwood-85

Someone on Facebook recently posted that they acquired one, potentially aside from the other 9 known to exist. These courts look incredible.

I second that, those courts are wonderful. The Starling article is a great read.

In the article he references that it was a 12 color printed deck. Does anyone have a guess how they got to the count that it was 12 colors on this deck? Careful counting and a shark eye / magnifying glass?

On the sheets I've collected I can count the swatches along the edge, typically the four CMYK and any additional spot colors, but that's not happening with the 115+ year old deck of which there are only 9!

Related... I've wondered before how Rainbow decks are printed, with 52 shades of a back design. I never see alignment issues, indicating to me that each back is printed a solid single color (no blending / halftone /etc). Surely we're not able to buy a 52 color printed deck for just minimal increase over the standard 4 color process.

Enough printing talk...

Have they reprinted this deck? Love the vintage court artwork!

someone put some time into those.

Dang, those are really beautiful. Those are what you call custom courts!
Anyone know Will Roya personally? Perhaps he may be willing to get the Norwood deck printed.

george wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:41 am Does anyone have a guess how they got to the count that it was 12 colors on this deck?

I suspect lithography print and that with 12 colours. If you use a linen tester you can indeed count the colours.

george wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:41 am Related... I've wondered before how Rainbow decks are printed, with 52 shades of a back design. I never see alignment issues, indicating to me that each back is printed a solid single color (no blending / halftone /etc).

I doubt they print rainbow decks with anything other than cmyk.

Here's some pictures from Kevan Seaney aka The Congress Guy, who found this deck for a friend. I'm wondering if it's the same person whose pictures I had initially posted in this thread.
According to him, this is only one of two known to exist with plain edges.

I enjoy keeping up with the lore around this deck. Does anyone know what the current count is now? Starling's article points to "8 or 9," and accounts for the whereabouts of each one, but then in the comments someone claims to have an unconfirmed 10th sample - and that information is 7 or so years old now. A few years back Paul Bostock high bid for one during a 52+J auction - but no provenance was given at the time.

One of the best decks ever done. I'd kill for one.

Found this in the comment section of the reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/playingcards/c ... ention_in/

Does the copyright, if any, still apply? Someone should recreate this deck. If Azured Ox wanted to, I'm sure she could do this deck justice.

Any chance this deck will ever get a reprint? So many people want one...and I think even owning a repro will be OK. It's fine with me!

Yeh these are sick

This is confirmed by Lee Asher as the 10th deck. It sat in a box for 50 years if memory serves me. One of two with plain edges.

TCG606 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 30, 2025 1:54 pm This is confirmed by Lee Asher as the 10th deck. It sat in a box for 50 years if memory serves me. One of two with plain edges.

Ayy! Nice to see Kevan here. Welcome! Lots of card knowledge in your brain.

I just started painting a set of these to be used in our Year 2 reward deck in case any of you fine people are interested, I have attached an example of one of my courts next to an original to give an idea, the artwork is made from layering colours using a watercolour brush set, hand-drawn in photoshop, and has so far proved very enjoyable! The progress of the artwork will be posted to my Patreon over the coming weeks and months. The finished deck will not be a straight recreation of the 85 Norwood, it will be a classic style deck with original tuck, back, Ace of Spades and Jokers and using these courts as an interpretation of standard courts (beefy enhanced standard courts!).

Cheers - AHPC PATREON

I have one of these decks I found at an estate sale in a box with a bunch of decks. This was in 2020. In researching it I reached out to Rod Starling and sent him photos and he confirmed it. I have the same box that is pictured in this post. Rod thought it may have been a homemade box, but now I question that as there is another. I would like to sell it but do want want to use eBay. Can anyone recommend a reputable consigner to go through? Rod has sadly passed away a few years ago, a very nice gentleman. He advised me at the time it could bring $4-5,000. I don't know what it is worth now.
Thank you for your help!

One sale I know of - USPC Norwood #85 - $1950 - 52 plus Joker 2020 Auction

Welcome to UC. I remember your exchange with Rod Starling. I recommend reaching out to Paul Bostock. I'll DM you his email address.

It seems the Norwood 85 deck for $1,950 only had 51 cards (according to congress guy’s memory)

Indeed...
This is Paul Bostock's copy, his high bid, in the 2020 auction. Don't know which card is missing. Described as worn and soiled around the edges but in decent shape. I think he wrote about it in Clear the Decks, or maybe the newsletter, following the auction.

Hi All this is Paul Bostock and yes I did buy that Norwood. It is definitely used and I got the impression that the others are mostly really excellent towards mint condition. I don't have my notes or the deck at hand as I am away going home from Charlotte (52+Joker Convention). The price guide $4,000 is also correct from Hochman (if mint). At this level of rarity and price, I don't think the price estimate would change very often as there are so few deals done. it's down to finding willing buyers - ideally you want to find two or three, even better if they are all very competitive individuals! I do not know what became of Rod Starling's set and it's impossible to update the count without knowing if a "new" find is one of the old ones coming back onto the market. If I were selling it, I would try to find a good buyer privately through collecting contacts.

I've already spent my imaginary $4000 on Dondorf's Peters Union Reifen, so I'm no longer a good candidate. (Jean Darquenne just recently listed the only one I've seen for sale in all my time collecting.)

The Peters Union deck actually snuck by in a mixed lot auction that had no ones eye on it - 20 euro for a bunch of old - the equivalent of finding a box at an estate sale like the norwoods…

https://www.spielzeugauktion.de/catalog ... /3?lang=en


Badly placed as they mostly do old toys, dolls and stuffed animals

It's a different advertising deck, No924E. The backs are Peters Union, the faces are from Dondorf's standardbild. But good catch. The rare deck is No955. Did you notice the Musikalisches cards on that page? I think you mentioned you were interested in these. The ones on that page are the known original cards (there are two, the known original, and one suspected of being a contemporary copy, but unproven as there are no records - based on my limited ability to translate German). Another one you don't see very often.

Not a straight reproduction, but an interpretation of the Norwood faces combined with original artwork on the backs, aces and tucks - these feature on my Patreon Year 2 reward deck Red Lion - if anyone here is interested in finding out more, feel free to hop across to the AHPC Patreon thread and all will be explained these courts were digitally painted by hand using photoshop watercolour brushes from original source material, and as you can imagine, took a very long time. Cheers!