Off-Center Seal

Beauties, I want to share this with you because I'm really surprised at how many card people don't seem to know this.

The Black Roses Hotel Playing Cards are meant to remind you of old casino decks from the 70s. An important detail in this regard is the off-center seal that you see on a lot old casino decks.

After a ton of decks with all previous Black Roses Hotel and Casino Playing Cards nobody ever asked me why the seal is off-center. A magician friend asked me this for the first time and I was baffled by the question. In my understanding, this is something quite normal for casino decks. And especially as a magician, you are no stranger to the subject - you should know this. It's like asking me why the grass is green or the sky is blue. I don't know! :D I don't even know what the exact benefits of off-center seals are - if there really is one. It simply is an important detail for the series to make everything look perfect.

My theory was always that the machines back in the days weren't that precise to place the seal exactly in the middle. Other people simply say the decks open faster like that. I even asked Lee Asher if he would know more and the said both are good theories and it's probably true somehow. But nobody really knows the real answer anymore.

Seemingly out of nowhere I've received a lot questions in my Cold Foil Black Roses Hotel campaign about the off-center seal. People asked me if this would be a common issue. Although the off-center seal is even listed as a spec on the Kickstarter page. I saw people talking about it in group chats that it would be very uncommon for my urge to make everything perfect etc. One other guy even wrote that I would try to copy the Jerry's Nuggets :D

It was funny at the beginning and of course I know that people who aren't into cards can't know this. But these people who have nothing to do with cards wouldn't even question it. If you are already in group chats or forums you are definitely into playing cards. It really buffles that those people don't know it better.

Fun fact, USPCC even charged me a few cents more for every single deck to place the seal off-center.

And off-center seals alren't just a thing on older Casino decks. These cards for example are from 2019:
https://spielkartenshop.com/Isle-Casino-Blue-Playing-Cards

Let me know if you have learned something new or if you already knew this. :D

Much love and stay safe

Daniel