Someone kindly pointed out this thread in connection with my query about modern-day playing card quality versus playing cards manufactured in the "good old days."
I know nothing about card quality, but here's something I posted in another GF thread which may be of interest (slightly edited to make sense for this thread).
I had the chance to speak briefly with an old friend who is a magician and has written and published several magic books, but more importantly for this discussion, he was involved for several years in playing card manufacturing. He overwhelmed me with many facts and subtleties of card manufacturing and quality, but heres the essence of what he said (or at least what I believe he said):
Generally, the highest quality, modern playing cards are every bit as good as the best examples of the cards of old, and perhaps even a bit better, given todays technologies. There were poor quality cards back then, as there are now, whether due to the use of inferior materials and production methods, or due to poor quality control.
As for the superior memory of the old faro cards, my friend agrees, but noted that faro cards simply arent made nowadays, and if they were, a modern-day manufacturer could produce cards every bit as good as the old faro cards. Faro cards were (and would be today) a specialty item, and were manufactured with two plys, each ply running perpendicular to the other they were specifically designed and manufactured for the all-important purpose of laying (and staying) flat, thus the great memory. Even the best cards of today are not manufactured with the grain of the card stock plys running perpendicular to each other. So, from what I gather, one cant fairly compare the old faro cards to modern cards due to the fundamentally different nature of their manufacture.
Clay