Mystery Box Black Edition Playing Cards

When filmmaker J.J. Abrams was a kid, he visited the Tannen’s magic shop in Manhattan with his grandfather, where they purchased a “mystery magic box” that supposedly contained “$150 of magic for only $15.” Abrams then decided the idea of what the box contained likely outshone the reality, so to this day it remains unopened.

What could have remained merely an interesting story has turned into a collaboration between Abrams and the folks at Theory 11, resulting in the Mystery Box — 12 decks of cards wrapped in letterpressed kraft paper, which are housed in an iron-branded, alpha-numeric lockbox handcrafted from 100-year-old reclaimed wood. For every deck sold, they donate $1 to 826 National, a non-profit dedicated to promoting creative writing in schools and workshops around the US.

And now, there is a Black Edition of the Mystery Box, the cards of which are somehow even sleeker-looking than the original ones. The lockbox is the same though, and it’s up to you whether it is opened or remains closed forever.

The original and Black edition Mystery Boxes are $150 at Theory 11. If you would rather go without that sweet lockbox, the decks can be purchased alone for about $10 a pop.

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