Tarot Collecting

Need some help.

I'm trying to write an article on Tarot collecting: how people feel about it, what makes someone a collector, what makes some decks more valuable to collect than others, what you need to know to be a collector, etc and anything else on the subject.

I myself don't consider myself a collector, so I need info from those who do and are.

Tried running a search on it, both yesterday and today, but I keep getting the fatal error message. So any advice you have for me would be very helpful. I know next to nothing about it.

Thank you so much

Babs

What do you wanna know? Feel free to pick my brains...

Rule number one; you must love what you collect (and in any field they say this is key). A deck I love and which is rare is always going to appeal infinitely more than a deck which is simply rare. That's why I didn't go for the Granny Jones this week. I mean, yes it's rare but I'm not going to get drawn into the downward spiral of "you must have it because it is rare".

No, I have to love it. Thus the Soprafino (easily available at alida) or a Weiser A/B Thoth is infinitely more appealing to me as a collector than the Granny Jones.

Plus there has to be some sentimental attachment. The MRP rarities and Ltd editions are important to me because it was the Victorian Romantic (kit) which I saw in a bookshop and revived my love of tarot which had been dormant for many years, so I feel I owe this deck so much. Plus the historical decks; when I was a kid, these decks intrigued me, and I love buying them even though I (relatively) rarely read with them nowadays. But they connect back to something I felt when younger and just starting out.

Plus - for some odd reason - I find beautiful Mass Market decks much more appealing than the Ltd editions, which are only attractive to me if I love the artwork. I am not one of those people who see the words "limited edition" and reach for my credit card.

In tarot, I do think "readability" is a massive factor in whether a deck becomes collectible which is unique as no other collectible has that category (books? I don't think so...) Greenwood, MRP decks gain the status they do because apart from being attractive (many decks are), they speak to many (not all) tarot readers and so there is that craving by people who really want to use them, not like adults collecting Star Wars figurines simply to have on the shelf. There will always be someone somewhere that wants to read with a deck. They are not like those hideous plates you see in Sunday supplements which are manufactured as *ready made* collectibles. With decks, there will always be someone somewhere who wants to riffle shuffle and read with it, perhaps to the horror of the more prissy collectors!

But something I have noticed about myself which I find interesting; decks which are marketed as "Ltd editions" do nothing for me as I find myself more intrigued by how tarot is received, consumed and used by (for want of a better word) the "masses" and the "mainstream". This, I think, is a much more interesting phenomena and definitely influences the decks I go for.

Oh my.

Essay to follow. But seriously - your best bet might be to turn things around and do an interview with Adam Mclean.... Or check out his blog etc. It has everything you could ever need.

As Advertised.

Collecting.

It happens to you. You don’t have to know anything - I don’t think I do, except what I have learned BY collecting !

Once upon a time, way back in the 70s, my SO bought himself a deck (University Books RWS). To this day I have no idea why. But I didn’t have one. I was cross. I saw a different one (1JJ) in KMart (yes, I DO mean KMart). I bought that. Then one day I was in a store that had a THOTH ! I was gobsmacked. I bought that so I could see the differences. I had no idea there were such a variety. The next week they had a Visconti Sforza…

I was in London on vacation. I entered the Atlantis Bookstore. They had the original version of the Camphausen Tree of Life. Another view of things. Wow. Bought that too. (To this day I don’t get that one AT ALL… )

I would look at them all. It was exciting. Then I saw a “real” (yellow box USG) RWS. I bought it so as not to have to keep stealing his copy.

We went out west on vacation. Passing through California, I met my Xultun…
There was also a neat store in Sydney BC. My Arista and my Belline joined us.

I was fascinated. THEN – the start of my real downfall – I was being a student in Toronto – where there was this AMAZING store. The Occult Shop. Anyone been ? It’s moved now, but it was right on Queen – FAR too close to the University. Large range of cards – OH yes. Things like the Gentilini, even. And I was so fascinated – I just started to buy them and look at them. And we went to New York to visit his sister – and USG had an office downtown and sold stuff, and we also found the Magickal Childe (I miss that store like you would not believe)… Around this time my boss said I was obsessed.
Nonsense, I said.
How many decks do you have ?
About 100.
Well, what would you call an obsession ?
Oh, I said airily, I guess if I had 250, I might call myself obsessed…

I then moved back to the UK – and I met that amazing Mr Somerville in Edinburgh…. A lifetime friend. A primrose path.

It just happens to you. You see another deck somewhere, and you need to see it properly, more than you can see in a store – you need time with it. It isn’t what you know – except in so far as you do need to know what you have - and yes I have on occasion had a serious accident… I now carry a list when I am far from home !

Readability is a factor NOW, and up to a point. But interest is more important – I don’t read with every deck I own. (I do often read with ones I never tried before, when requested…) It is more that every single deck shows you something you never saw before. Even That Deck, Leffy !

I would agree that to many collectors there is a “collectability” factor – and there I think originality counts for more than LE status. And love – yes – but that varies hugely (I love my Granny Jones – and Leffy doesn’t love the deck at all !) But I couldn’t part with any of them. That is part of being a collector too. Though truelighth – another collector – would disagree – she only keeps what she loves. I don’t know if she ever got rid of a Waite of any kind though – that is her thing – there are also criteria used by some collectors; what they want, what they don’t.

Nor am I the kind of collector who would keep everything shrink wrapped. I have opened up and lusted through ever single deck I own – once Mr Somerville asked if I opened the decks. I was amazed. Of course, I said. Oh good, he said; some people just buy them and put them away. That’s silly, for me. There has to be some point to collecting, other than just acquisition. I do spend time on my “little” lot – I really do. They have their own room, and we visit together Sure there are some decks I have which are really too fragile or otherwise impossible to use – one of Shandra McNeil’s for instance, which has such a lot of gold paint on the cards that I have to keep tissue between the cards. See how well we all get on, that I know this !

Value – I don’t care. Most of mine were bought at the start price anyway – I have decks I paid $20 or less for that are up there on ebay in four figures. They are no more special to me for that. I have paid a lot for a few decks – I would say I wouldn’t pay a lot for something I didn’t actually like, even if it WERE Deeply Significant As Tarot ! Collecting as investment leaves me cold – in all fields. I think it’s rather sad. I don’t must have it because it is rare; I COULD recently have bought the deck of my dreams – I was offered it at a good price. But it was still a HUGE price and I couldn’t justify it even to myself. (Though just occasionally I do wish I’d….)

And YES, Leffy – tarot collecting is NOT like those vile ceramic “OOAK you NEED this” that are advertised all over. Yuck. That is just acquiring the totally useless (and often unlovely). Tarot collecting is more than that. It takes you places you don’t expect.

I have to go do something else now… but I am still around if you need more, Babs !

whooah! great post! Inside the mind of a true collector...

Not to be rude, but would not a reader with more than 3 decks

also be a collecter?

Checking my shelves, I have become one.

It is true I went through a few years that I kept to one,pair of running shoes and restricted myself to one shelf of decks...than I realized how much I used those shoes and the decks .

I realized after having nine decks for six months once and minimizing there was not what worked for me. So the first step after looking at my books, decks and use/reference was evaluating what categories, uses and usage..and clearing space or organizing. If this is a hobby that takes time, take one step at a time.

Most decks I treat as books. Most are or were mass market and initially available cheaply. I only access value as needed for my use or acquiring a deck. It is a hobby, similar to enjoying postcards or old recipe books.

For bargains, check library sales, used bookstores, flea markets...but only pick what works for your tastes.

Best wishes

Le Fanu said:

whooah! great post! Inside the mind of a true collector...

Click to expand...

...the WHAT of a true col... ???

Thanks everyone!!! This is an education for me

I guess you're right though and it ought to be helpful to define what a collector is. I'd love to hear everyone else's opinions on that but to me a collector is someone who buys decks they do not intend to use. Eg keeps them unopened, to trade later or resell whe they become more valuable.

To me (personally anway, having hundreds of decks does not make you a collector per se as long as you use them all fairly regularly. If that case you just are a reader with lots of reading decks to me, but not a collector. Collector to me implies having decks you never use, purposely or otherwise. Like a stamp collector who knows they will never use those stamps to post a letter,

But that is just my opinion of what a collector is, other's opinions will likely vary. For me I have about 104 decks and I do not consider myself a collector, as I use them all. I just see myself as an active reader with a large choice of decks to read from. But it depends on who you define the work of coures.

Babs

Wouldn't a reader with more than 3 decks

Cerulean said:

also be a collector?

Click to expand...

Yes of course. Anyone who feels they are a collector is one ! A collection need not be huge to be a collection.

I have a collection of rather unusual paperclips. I have two of them - a wooden cat and a frog with a spring. But now I might see another and then I will have three...

SunChariot said:

Thanks everyone!!! This is an edication for me

I guess you're right though and it ought to be helpful to define what a collector is. I'd love to hear everyone else's opinions on that but to me a collector is someone who buys decks they do not intend to use. Eg keeps them unopened, to trade later or resell whe they become more valuable.

To me (personally anway, having hundreds of decks does not make you a collector per se as long as you use them all fairly regularly. If that case you just are a reader with lots of reading decks to me, but not a collector. Collector to me implies having decks you never use, purposely or otherwise. Like a stamp collector who knows they will never use those stamps to post a letter,

Click to expand...

I am no longer a collector ! Not even of the paperclips as I use those too ! This will come as a shock to some But I LOVE it ! (I don't have to use them for READING I can use them, as Cerulean says, like books....)

OK Babs - you NEED Adam.

http://www.alchemywebsite.com/tarot/
- or email him - the address is up there ! He has a HUGE collection and doesn't read. He used to publish, and also had an exhibition from his collection a while ago. That is OK for non-use I think !