Goldeneye Baccarat deck - a standard detective story -

Alex1995

Hello guys,

I am looking for couple of years for the correct Monte-Carlo Baccarat card deck and I would like to share with you this journey.






I am sure that you will find yourself in this story... -{

Alex1995

- Initial search -

The first info comes from from fellow props fan and from the original thread about these cards which establish the Austrian company Piatnik as the manufacturer.

After some digging, it looked like the reference for the Austrian deck would be the No.1404 "Baccara large".
(ref. http://a.trionfi.eu/WWPCM/decks06/d04594/d04594.htm)

But after a "quick and dirty comparison", the Piatnik deck is close but obviously not a 100% match. Check the bands across the shoulders of the monarchs for instance.






- Identification of the manufacturer -

Back to step 0

Let´s summarize what we know:
- Paris pattern
- probably bridge size (58 x 89.3mm)
- the backs are blank, pure white or very pale blue
- 52 cards (or 54) -due to the cards played in the movie-
- no corner index

An aspect that I really love in our hobby is the learning phase about the items we are looking for! Here the study about cards.

The Paris pattern, also without index, is pretty old. Goldeneye deck is a reprinting of a much-older face.




Another clue to notice is how Julius Caesar's last name "CÉSAR" is spelled on the King of Diamonds

Alex1995

- The find -

Indeed for French deck the name of the cardboard maker is written on one specific card within the drawing!

→ And luckily us, the card is displayed for couple of frames!

To don´t spoil the fun, I will not tell which card but you actually just have to make pause to read the manufacturer name.

A specialized shop in Italy, replied to one of the mails I sent all over, confirming this info and gave me the Serie "made for casinos only". The person went until looking in his archive and sending me a scan of the brand catalogue from the 90s.



Now begins the wait... we have all the time in the world, right?

Alex1995

- The deck replica -

After one year, I begun to loose it and decided to replicate it...

Indeed, I had some good screenshots, the exact serie and I found some really well done open-source vector models of a French deck.

Here the open-source material:


I based my work on it, adapted all the figures and as usual... when 80% of the job was done, a deck popped on the market!

The deck was issued by the correct manufacturer and was from the good serie but unfortunatly, the format and the back were different. (the game has also only 32 cards... hard to play the same hand as in the movie)



As the price was couple of euros, I purchased it anyway to refined my replica






My son was born couple of weeks after and all the projects got frozen

Alex1995

- Epilogue -

Last month, an alert finally informed me about the good deck being available! -{



For the story, the seller was from my home town in France -couple of km from my parent s place- and sold me the deck for 10,50EUR. How crazy, right?

Here some picture of the correct deck and comparison shots with the 32 cards one (exact same cards, just cropped differently)

Alex1995

I am finally really happy to add this new item to the collection.

Alex1995

I hope you have enjoyed these lines and this "standard Props quest story" {[]

Stay safe,
- François

Remmert007

Great story, and amazing find! Thanks for sharing.

HalfMonk HalfHitman

Congrats!

urhash

With an accurate deck in hand, I hope you’ll consider finishing the replica version!

thespyboys11

Great story, Francois!!!!! This is what prop collecting is all about....the hunt. Congratulations!!!! -Ed

Westward_Drift

Congrats on a successful hunt. Great story with a great result. -{

Tato007

Bravo !

Love this story ! But It's the daily life of props researchers

bondpropfan

The investigations, research and detective work, that sometimes does take years to uncover, adds loads of value to a replica prop collection. Even if it only costs a few pounds, euros or dollars to buy. We love the hunt!!

Well done on your discoveries, a great addition to your collection, mint condition too. Worth the wait i would say.

-{ -{

ACACIA_AVENUE

Well done François, thank you for sharing that wonderful story, really impressed with your detective work -{

Bond Collectors' Weekends

Beautifully done.

Alex1995

Thanks a lot for your kind feedback gents {[]

I'm really happy how this hunt turned out! That make indeed a nice story behind this genuine and specific object!

Everything eventually pop out there. We just have to know what we are looking for and be patient for the perfect item... What is not the most obvious stuff to do.

- François