Dan & Dave’s Private Reserve is a simply beautiful and beautifully simple deck of cards. There’s no gimmick, no theme: just classic good looks, understated design and quality card stock with a splash of gold foil on the back. The cards are printed by the United States Playing Card Company and housed in a classy black and gold box that’s individually numbered and held closed with a wax seal for that “look how fancy my deck of cards is you filthy peasant,” feel.
If you’ve ever felt the urge to stalk the night streets in a mink coat, mercilessly throwing playing cards at homeless people, this is the deck you want.
But, as the name implies, the Private Reserve is difficult to get your hands on. The Buck brothers (the aforementioned Dan & Dave, themselves performers of no small renown) have stopped selling the deck directly and are instead using their supply to sweeten the pot in occasional promotional events. Every now and again a sealed specimen crops up on eBay, but sellers are looking for upwards of $100 for the deck.
A more sensible option might be to take part in Dan & Dave’s latest promotion. For a limited time they’ll be including a “free” Private Reserve deck in every order over $150 made on their online store. The brothers’ promotional material suggests a Magic Surface might fit the bill. At $325 a pop, that might seem like overkill, but considering how quickly the rest of their stock is selling out, it might be your best bet if you’ve already ordered the mink coat.