Did I stumble across a gem?

wytchayn

I just received an RWS deck I bought on eBay. I bid on it because I could see in the pictures that it had no copyright statement on the cards. Those things drive me nuts.

Now that I have it, I'm realizing this might be a very early printing of the U.S. Games era. I used to work in publishing and we used scrub codes on the copyright page to indicate which printing it was. To me, the scrub code says the LWB was the 13th printing.

Is this something I should archive and put on a shelf rather than use?
 

Richard

I don't think the USG copyright started appearing on the cards until after around 1975. Maybe someone else will come along with more specifics.
 

rwcarter

Decks with copyrights on the cards appeared somewhere between the 16th and 17th printings of the LWB. I have a 16th printing without copyrights and a 17th printing with, but I believe someone else mentioned that they have a 16th printing with copyrights. As far as I know there is no way to determine the exacting printing date (or number) of a particular deck. Using the date on the box, we can determine a general date range of when the deck was printed. Even the printings of the LWB don't have dates associated with them (at least not that's publicly known). But at least within the larger date range from addresses on the box, we can narrow down a date range using the printing of the LWB.

It makes sense to me that there would be a disparity between printings of the deck and printings of the LWB just because of the difference in size. You can get many more LWBs in a box that's even half the size of the box that the decks come in.

As least a few years ago when I was regularly trawling eBay, decks without copyrights weren't that difficult to find. So I say go ahead and use your gem instead of putting it up on a shelf somewhere to preserve it.
 

wytchayn

As least a few years ago when I was regularly trawling eBay, decks without copyrights weren't that difficult to find. So I say go ahead and use your gem instead of putting it up on a shelf somewhere to preserve it.

Thanks, rwcarter! I think I'll go ahead and use my new (to me) deck without worrying that I'm abusing some kind of rare artifact or something. :)
 

PattyMc

I have a couple of pre copyright decks, I use them and absolutely love them!

I think the earlier editions aren't as laminated, the card stock is so nice.

Once you get used to that nice matte feel of the card stock, it's hard to use the newer ones that have a heavier lamination on them.

Enjoy your deck!

Patty
 

Kiky

Enjoy your deck.
 

chongjasmine

I think it is a gem, regardless of whether it has copyright on it or not.
Anyway, enjoy your deck!
 

wytchayn

Thank you, everyone!