LATHAM, Ill. (AP) — Al Reiterman began collecting decks of playing cards in 1970. He never stopped.
It started like this, he said: “I saw a display of playing cards. They were priced at $3. I bought a deck.”
Nearly 45 years later, he has a roomful of decks, displayed on floor to ceiling shelves. As of May 30, the total was 14,117.
Many of the decks are unopened, and if he wants to play poker, he grabs an everyday deck from the drawer.
A retired custodian at Mount Pulaski Grade School, Reiterman is a once-a-week barber who is a dedicated card counter. Each deck he finds, usually in a flea market, is catalogued in a notebook.
Any duplication? “No, never,” Reiterman said. “I remember them all.”
And he has lots of company in the card collectors field, although none locally he knows of, he said.
“I’m a member of the Chicago Playing Cards Collecters Club,” Reiterman said. “There are more than 300 collectors in 38 states. An annual convention is held. This time, the convention is in Champaign Sept. 12 and 13.
“I have a young friend in Colorado, he’s a college student now. I met him at a convention and gave him 200 decks to get started.”
Take in the multitude of decks and variety.
A gold-plated deck or a 1907 deck, discovered at a flea market in Bloomington.
He has a deck from Egypt, a deck from Romania and a deck from Budapest.
“Look at this one,” Reiterman said. It’s a portfolio of 24 decks commemorating each country entered in the 100th anniversary of the Olympics. Baseball and football and basketball cards are in the hundreds, along with souvenir decks.
“Some of these decks were sold for 19 cents long ago,” Reiterman said. “The most I’ve paid for a deck is $65.”
He is proud of his biggest deck, 8-by-10 size. And the smallest: tiny, tiny.
He has a Christian Brothers Brandy deck, and another set has his name imprinted on every card. One unique deck is shaped like a pyramid.
Some of the cards were displayed at the Mount Pulaski 175th anniversary two summers ago.
The search is never ending for Reiterman.
In May, he discovered a batch of 141 decks at a flea market.
“It was like winning the lottery,” he said, grinning.
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Source: (Decatur) Herald & Review, http://bit.ly/1l0saGP
