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.

It’s pretty cheeky to declare one of your own products as the finest of its kind, but it’s hard to argue that Dan & Dave’s Magic Surface, Limited Edition isn’t exactly that. These things are gorgeous, made with exotic woods and colorways handcrafted to order. If you’re looking for something to really class up your close-up, this is it. I mean, just look at the dang thing. It just reeks of luxury:

Ok, now for the bad news. First, this gorgeous piece of furniture doesn’t come cheap – it’ll run you a smooth $395. Second, when they say limited, they mean it, as only twelve of each style, black or green, will be sold. Get it now or forever regret your hesitation. 

Buy Magic Surface, Limited Edition, from Dan & Dave: $395

The sales don’t stop as we roll into Cyber Monday, and Dan & Dave are closing out the long weekend with up to 30% off many of the fine products available in their store.

Get a pack of Vintage Plaid playing cards for $8 (down from $10), store them in a Stanley Clip for $24 (on sale from $30), and learn six hours of card tricks with The Trilogy, a three-DVD box set for $59.50 (normally $85).

There’s a variety of magic tricks and accessories on sale for the rest of the day, and purchases over $150 will automatically receive a signed and numbered deck of Dan & Dave’s gorgeous Private Reserve playing cards for free. Act fast though, because Monday won’t last forever.

Normally, people give you presents to celebrate your birthday, but the Buck twins, Dan and Dave, are doing things the other way around by releasing two new decks: Antler and Vintage Plaid No. 2. 

Sounding like it came right out of an LL Bean catalog, the Antler deck is “born from the wild forests, rolling hills, and snow-capped mountains of Northern California.” The back color is “tobacco brown” and the design features two twin bucks (get it?). The Ace of Spades features its own solitary buck with glorious antlers, while each Joker offers the Antler name. The tuck case is “letterpress printed on premium craft paper with foil accents and sculptural embossing.” Fair warning: if we see you with this deck, we’re going to assume you can survive in the wilderness – or at least start a fire without matches. 

The second celebratory deck is the California Blue Edition of the Vintage Plaid No. 2 deck. It’s understated and classic, the kind of deck that never goes out of style. It’s naturally quite similar to the Arizona Red version that came out last year, but the cool blue backs of the new deck are perhaps just a touch more timeless. 

You can purchase either deck from Art of Play (Vintage Plaid is $10, Antler is $12) or Dan and Dave.