If you will allow me a brief reminiscence, during my first dalliance with magic in the 80s people were still using something called the cassette (or ‘tape’). And in those days you could buy any number of cassette storage boxes which just so happened to fit poker-sized playing cards. In fact I still have at least one such box. But CDs just don’t have the same convenient proportions so the young card collectors and card artists of today need to find a new solution to the perennial problem of playing card storage.
Enter our friends at JP Playing Cards who have a variety of solutions to this problem – depending on the size of your collection. We review some of their offerings below…
If you just have an individual deck you want to store and protect, then you need look no further than their handy Plastic Playing Card Storage Box. At only 99p (with reductions for bulk) they are a very convenient solution. As you can see, they comfortably fit a deck of Bicycle Cards still in their tuck case and wrapper. Great for keeping your decks and tuck cases clean and tidy.
If you have a larger collection they sell 12 deck (one brick), 18 deck or 36 deck (three bricks) solutions. We looked at the 36 deck solution and the ‘Cut out brick box’ (they do another brick box with no window, but we didn’t look at that one). [if you look closely you will see that we actually have 39 decks in our 36 deck box! This is because newer decks tend to take up less space and there is a little room for expansion!]
These boxes come arrive flat and you have to assemble them yourself. This is a straightforward task – if you know which boxes you are expecting. I must confess I was a little confused until I worked out that I had a couple of different types of box in my parcel. After that it was fairly intuitive.
The cut out boxes are of a single piece and pretty much fold themselves up. The 36 deck boxes have a separate lid, and also two extra dividers which fold into the overall design. But unless you are very spatially challenged you should have no problems putting them together.
With the large storage box, the lid felt a pretty tight fit when the box was empty, but it became much easier to put the lid on and off when the box was full. If you load the box to its full capacity (36 decks) then it is a little hard to get a deck out [NB – this was true for us when we had 39 decks in! it would be different for only 36!] – since there is barely any finger room. But I think in storage terms a snug fitter is better than a loose fit, so this is a sign of something which is fit for purpose. The ‘Cut out brick box,’ as its name suggests, has a cut out in the top allowing you to easily locate the deck you are looking for.
These boxes are made of a heavy cardboard and will keep your decks well protected. But if you are particularly concerned about humidity or damp problems they would probably not be a good choice since the cardboard wouldn’t provide that much protection. And obviously the cut away boxes expose more of the decks.
JP have a couple of other options on the storage front including the, to my mind, mildly ridiculous ‘deck stays’ (for reinforcing your tuck cases!). But for the convenience of a purpose built and reasonably robust storage solution and a fair price, these storage boxes are well worth a look. And if you want to spend a bit more, the Carat Cases are gorgeous!
Why not get some to store all your Christmas decks in? Or buy one for the magician in your life to house their collection?
And whilst you’re there, why not look at their fabulous collection of collectable playing cards. They have a great range…
And check out our competition (coming soon) for a chance to win some playing card storage solutions.
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