"COOP 65"

THE 1st PROTOTYPE

It's his 4th deck and it's obviously a result of the collector in Leo again. In fact this is the first prototype of the Moon "Sixtyfivers" and in 2023 only 10 decks were made in the US by MPC, which stands for MakePlayingCards. It's a company that produces decks of custom made playing cards with no minimum. They offer a range of 11 different qualities of card stock and Leo chose their finest M31. 
For this edition Leo was inspired by a deck that was designed by the Polish graphic artist/typographer/book designer Leon Urbanski (1926-1998) and printed in 1965 by the Polish KZWP for Coopexim, a Polish trading firm. Leo's interpretation was conceived in 2022.
Because of the very limited edition this deck isn't for sale anymore on Leo's site, but as 4th deck his 2 versions of the "Sixtyfivers" are presented there now, which are chronologically in fact deck 6 and 7 here. Unfortunately those were prototypes in a limited edition too and are also sold out.

  
-King of Spades from the original Coopexim deck.

 

 

The subtitle of the 4th deck is "Leon Urbanski remixed", so I expected courts having changed suits. However, all figures from the original deck were almost exactly redrawn and remained in their suits. Also the original suit signs have been used, only the index font is a bit sturdier and in 4 corners now. Small differences can be found in the decoration of the fabric of the clothing, with that of the King of Spades as most obvious difference.
A more noticeable difference is the floral design in two colours that has been added as a background on each of the courts. But of course the most striking difference is the use of pitch black for the body parts. Together with the clear white eyes and fingernails it alienates the figures in a fascinating way.

 

The Ace of Spades gives most of the information. Note that on the box the roman numerals mention 2022 and here 2023.

 

 

 

An octopus as the 4D surprise and the Moon circles on the 6's this time.

 

The jokers are specially designed in style with the the courts and both differ from the original joker in the Coopexim deck. The extra card mentions 2022 as year of remix. It also mentions that the original deck was designed for the world championship in bridge in Warzawa in 1966, but it would be highly unusual to use a non-standard deck in a world championship in bridge. I have my doubts about that.
Two jumping foxes centered in a mid-sixties-like design for the backs.

 

This edition of 10 decks only as first prototype can be identified at the bottom of the box.

 

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