If you ask really nicely Josh Brand (co-founder of
maydey.com) may tell you when he is going to start selling his cards again. Before his site re-vamp he was selling Aladdin 1001's for $3 a deck and on May 1st he sold them for $1 a deck.
You also want to be careful when buying Aladdin's on ebay. There are alot of rip off Aladdin playing cards and other legit decks of Aladdin's that are not what you want. Here is a list of real Aladdin's and fakes.
To start things off there are 3 different types of REAL "smooth finish" Aladdin 1001 Playing cards that you would be able to get your hands on from a shop.
You can tell the difference of the first 1001 Aladdin by looking at the box. There is no back design on the box. It has the same "1001 Aladdin Playing Cards" design on the front and the back of the box. It will also say "The National Card Co." where the gold oval is on the other runs. There is no cellophane on the box, instead it will have the hard plastic thing on the label to hang on a hook in a store (same as Bicycle Ecos from Wal-Mart). On the bottom of the box it will have a barcode and "1001 Aladdin" and thats it. The Box will also have a blue seal, but once you remove the plastic hanger you wont have a seal anymore.
Now to the actual card from the "old" 1001 Aladdin. The border around the backs of the card is much thinner than on any of the other runs of 1001 Aladdin. The Court cards picture will be noticeably larger than the other runs of 1001 Aladdin. This run handles the best out of all of the runs IMO. This deck includes 3 jokers.
Next is the second run of 1001 Aladdin. They will have cellophane on the box. The box will have a blue seal and the box will show the back design of the playing cards. Also, under "1001 Aladdin Playing Cards" there will be a gold oval that either says "smooth finish" or "air-cushion" (I explain that below). Finally on the bottom of the box it will say where the cards where manufactured. It will say Cincinnati, Ohio.
The actual card of the second run is pretty much the same as the first run, except the border is a little thicker and the court card pictures are normal sized. This deck includes 4 jokers.
The last and newest run looks exactly like the second run of 1001 Aladdin except there is a black seal on the box and on the bottom it says they are manufactured in Erlanger, Kentucky.
This 3rd run looks exactly like the 2nd run and also includes 4 jokers. There is a noticeable difference in handling between this run and the others mainly because of the movement of the USPCC factory.
Now to the "FAKE" 1001 Aladdin playing cards. It depends on what you mean by "fake".
There is a card, if I'm not mistaken, that has the exact same back design as the Aladdin 1001's back design. EXCEPT! In the middle of the back of a real Aladdin there is a flower and on the fake ones there is a circle of dolphins or something like that. I believe these were made in Japan.
On the other hand, there is another type of 1001 Aladdin playing card with "air cushion" finish. You can tell the difference in "smooth finish" 1001 Aladdin and "air cushion" 1001 Aladdin by looking at the front of the box. Underneath where it says "1001 Aladdin Playing Cards" there will be a gold oval that says either "smooth finish" or "air cushion". A lot of people say they don't like them but I think it is all up to what YOU like. The only place I now where you could get "air cushion" 1001 Aladdin was from Maydey.com. Seeing as though Maydey is down for the time being you may be able to get them from ebay.
Finally, there is a deck called 1002 Aladdin playing card. They are also "air cushion" finish and come in either an orange or green box. They have gold gilded edges but I have read multiple times that the edges are sharp and the gold flakes off. I have read that they clump horribly and cannot fan well.
All of these cards have the same back design (aside from the Japanese made ones with the dolphins on them) so just read what I wrote carefully and you will be able to tell the difference in all of the Aladdins.
I hope this helps
