deck-15-12

	The month started with 5 days in hospital for Miriam, so she had to miss the collectors meeting in Kerkdriel, that was held on the 13th. Joop went to sell the advertising backs that Miriam had sorted out in November. He did a good job, although there are still plenty left. So not as much time as he had wished to browse through all the offered decks on the other tables. He brought home two.

None of these two were serious material for this spot. We didn't have much time to follow the offer on the different Ebay's or our Dutch "auction" site, but during the month we received two packages from abroad. So this month our shortlist consisted of these 4 decks. The winning deck came from the French Ebay, although it was originally made in the US.

This deck had been in the lower regions of our wish list for years. You don't see it on offer very often and at those times that it did turn up it was sold at a price that we didn't want to pay for it. But patience is rewarded and we got this one at a very reasonable price, even with the registered mail from France included.
The reason for being on our wish list were the simple, but enjoyable drawings. Almost all the courts show loggers with a smile on their face and the deck passes on a certain optimistic feeling. This and the fact that their colleagues have done a great job again, supplying us with all kinds of fur trees for Christmas, made it impossible to choose any other deck for this spot this month. So enjoy and hopefully the deck can put a smile on your face too.

	It's definitely a non-standard deck. Not only by the design of the courts, but also by the special designed suit signs: a fir and a pine tree and a (bull)dozer and a truck. The red suits have been replaced by green ones (firs & trucks).

	All courts portrayed existing loggers.

	While looking for further information about this deck we were surprised that the number of references to be found on the internet is very limited.

The ace of firs reveals the name of the deck and the publisher. In forestry "widow-maker" usually refers to broken off branches or limbs that are hanging freely in the tree to be felled or in the trees close by, but there also a rotating wheel that is referred to "widow maker log splitter".

	The cards have been printed on cheap card. They are a bit thin and when hold to the light one can easily see through them.



	The use of this cheap kind of card could mean that de deck wasn't printed by any of the big, professional printers like the USPCC, but rather by a small print shop in Oregon (see box).

One of the few references on the internet was to an Ebay auction by a British seller, who offered the deck, with the following description:

"A VERY RARE WIDE DECK OF NON STANDARD CARDS TITLED LOGGER RENO PRODUCED IN 1979 EVERYTHING IN THIS DECK IS NON STANDARD QUITE STUNNING DESIGNS COMES WITH 2 ADDITIONAL CARDS ONE HEADER CARD THE OTHER WITH A SHORT RESUME OF THE PERSON WHO DESIGNED THE DECK ALTHOUGH IT DOES NOT INCLUDE HER NAME THERE IS NOT A JOKER CARD IN THIS DECK I DO NOT KNOW IF THERE WAS ONE IN IT ORIGINALLY BUT AS THE DECK LOOKS UNUSED I DO NOT THINK ONE WAS PRODUCED FOR IT."

He mentions that there are 2 additional cards, but also that he didn't know that there originally was a joker, but assumes that there never was a joker in this deck. Well, here below are the jokers that come with the deck. Besides the internet the Cartorama catalogues are always a good source of information and it didn't take long before we found this deck in one of them. Jean Darquenne usually has very good item descriptions and he mentions the presence of 3 extra cards and 2 jokers.

One of the extra cards gives a few hints about the artist. Although the name isn't mentioned, the artist must be female, as there's often a reference to "she" or "her". It's a bit stretched, but the deck was published by Forrest-Hen Creations and although the actual bird is depicted on the box, the "hen" could also refer to the female artist. The only signature on a design is found on the backs and box. It reads as R L Forrester.
But the first extra card also mentions the existence of a game by "her" father, published as "Timber". It was published by Umpqua Games in 1977 and Claetus C. Roberts is given as name of the designer. So the last name of our female artist is probably Roberts too.

"WITH BOX WHICH IS IN GOOD CONDITION A STRIP OF THE BACK OF THE BOX IS GRAZED WHOLE LENGTH"
It's probably not a coincidence that our box has the same defect.
We guess that the deck was sold, with the back of the box glued to a piece of carton with advertising or title on it.

	All the pip cards have the special designed suit signs too.....