The brand is KEM. I believe there are plastic coated now that you mentione dit.
No. KEMs qualify as a plastic card. Plastic-coated cards are your off-the-shelf dimestore decks like Bee and Bicycle. Plastic-coated paper.
Most plastic cards are some kind of PVC. KEM's selling point is that they use cellulose acetate, which is claimed to be a better material. Modiano also sells a premium line called "Platinum Acetate." Quite a bit more money - and KEMs are on the expensive side, too.
Is it worth it? I don't think so. Paper cards might last one or two games. Good plastic cards will last hundreds of games. Acetate ones might last hundreds or thousands of games, but they too will eventually show some wear and you'll want to replace them. I think you'd reach that point with acetate or standard plastic, so i think good quality plastic cards are the best value. Although if somebody wanted to give me a set of Modiano Plastic Acetates, I certainly wouldn't turn it down.
We've been using a set of Modianos for three years now - and the cards are starting to fade. We would have spent hundreds by now with a new set of paper every week.
The best deal around was when Trident was blowing out the Modiano Elements for 2 or 3 dollars a deck. Now I think they are completely gone. Does anybody know if the Tridents are avaialable anywhere?
Gary