View Full Version : What tarot decks have you bought or seen at garage/yard sales?
Rusty Neon
20-03-2004, 09:51
I haven't seen any yet at garage/yard sales. Has anyone else been successful?
Thanks in advance.
(Yippee, this is my 1111th post.)
Happy eleventy-leven, Rusty Neon! :D
I keep searching at garage sales, but I never find any tarot decks. I've found some great books on astrology and dreams, but no tarot. And I live in the 'uptown' area of the Twin Cities that is kind of funky and unique, so I would think I'd find decks here, if I were to find them anywhere. But...nothing.
Hopefully someone out there has gotten lucky at a garage sale! (Um...lucky in terms of tarot, I mean! ;) )
Peace,
Melvis
:TSTRE
Happy 1111!!!!
I find lots of books but not cards.
I have never seen a single tarot deck at a garage sale :( I always live in hope though :)
Congratulations on your 1111th Rusty!!
Ruby7
Rusty Neon
20-03-2004, 11:08
Originally posted by ros
Happy 1111!!!!
I find lots of books but not cards.
Thanks, Ros ... What books have you found?
Regular astology or New Age books & the odd tarot.
There is an old book store not far from where I live. You can buy books cheap, read them & take them back. There are all kinds. If there is something special you want let me know & I'll look or ask. I'm not good at history like you so give details. lol
Only if you want.
Your pm is full
Chronata
20-03-2004, 11:48
There are a ton of decks that both my Mom and I have discovered at garage sales!
(Although I will admit my Mother is so much better at it!)
Let's see...tiny RWS, Tarot Balbi, Tarot of the Witches, Tarot Nova, Southwest Sacred Tribes, Cat People, 1JJ Swiss, Mythic, Grand Tarot Esoterico, Hoi Polloi, ...there might be a few others that I am forgetting!
Also...lots of Oracle decks..like different Sibillia decks and my Sakura CLOW cards!
This has been over the course of the last 15 or so years...and I don't think we payed more than $2 for any of these.
And I can't even count the number of books...on tarot, new age, and occult subjects that we have found!
I do have to add...that my Mother goes to garage sales for a living! It's not her job...it's her calling! :)
laura_borealis
20-03-2004, 12:38
Wow Chronata -- maybe we should all take yard sailing lessons from your mom! :D
I've never found a deck at a yard sale, but I found my first tarot book at one. I think I will start asking when I go to sales. I could be just missing them. And sometimes when you ask, people will bring stuff out of their house that they hadn't originally thought of selling.
lunalafey
20-03-2004, 12:39
1111
where's the 4-pointed crown!!!?
I have not been so lucky to find such tarot things at garage sales
I end up finding things like old old beads that are sold in shops for $15 to $30 a strand for like 25 cents {cranberry white hearts and watermelon cheverons for starters}
The only Tarot thing I have found in a sort of garage sale setting- was the Voyager tarot with the little deck book- the big companion book and a set of cassette tapes {one missing} for $4.
If I ever saw a deck at a garage sale I would probably buy it immediately! I did see a deck for sale at an antiques store - it was a Marseilles deck, and it was not antique, and of course they wanted a very antique price for it, LOL.
I have seen books, but nothing I was interested in. I always look though, hoping someone has their aunt's Folchi collection....
The Portland based Powell's books on Hawthorne (kind of a funky area) tends to get the used decks. I've gotten a few things there at a good price.
Jewel-ry
20-03-2004, 13:17
Originally posted by VGimlet
If I ever saw a deck at a garage sale I would probably buy it immediately!
I did this when I was in Majorca last month. I saw a german version of the Sante Fe Tarot for 2Euros and had to snap it up fast. I don't really GET it but hey, it was a bargain, right?
J :)
Rusty Neon
20-03-2004, 13:37
Originally posted by VGimlet
The Portland based Powell's books on Hawthorne (kind of a funky area) tends to get the used decks. I've gotten a few things there at a good price.
That's too bad that the last time I was in Portland and at Powell's was before my interest in tarot.
Logiatrix
20-03-2004, 14:51
Originally posted by lunalafey
1111
where's the 4-pointed crown!!!?
Tauni reverently passes the pointy crown to Rusty Neon....
:D
Originally posted by Chronata
Let's see...tiny RWS, Tarot Balbi, Tarot of the Witches, Tarot Nova, Southwest Sacred Tribes, Cat People, 1JJ Swiss, Mythic, Grand Tarot Esoterico, Hoi Polloi, ...there might be a few others that I am forgetting!
Also...lots of Oracle decks..like different Sibillia decks and my Sakura CLOW cards!
This has been over the course of the last 15 or so years...and I don't think we payed more than $2 for any of these.OMG, you must live in the Tarot Belt! :D I never see Tarot cards here, though we occasionally found some neat old astrology books, many years ago. These days it seems to be old clothes and broken toys. I live in the WORST garage sale community I've ever seen. :(
Nevada
HudsonGray
20-03-2004, 17:07
Never at a garage sale, never at a community rummage sale, never at a swap meet. Interesting. However, Half Price Bookstores does get several a month.
I wonder what happens to all those old decks that were bought in the last 30 years?
Originally posted by HudsonGray
I wonder what happens to all those old decks that were bought in the last 30 years? I bought one, through abebooks.com. A thoth, cards so well used they are supple and perfect. I love this deck, it was well used and cared for. Would enjoy knowing the history, but how could you ever find out?
Edited to add: nor have I ever seen a deck at any yard/rummage sale.
tabbycat
21-03-2004, 03:55
I've only seen a tarot deck at a car-boot sale once and then it was one of those dreadful popular tarot sets that you see popping up like weeds on eBay (forget if it was the Jonathan Dee one or the Art of Tarot). I'd love to know where all the homeless and unwanted decks go! I always ask at every second-hand bookshop I visit if they have any tarot decks, but that's dangerous to do, as they usually stare at you as if you've suddenly turned into Satan and practically escort you off the premises!
Jilly
I've never been to a garage sale but in my town we have a bric-a-brac market once a week and I've picked up some bargains from there, not a tarot deck yet but an I Ching boxed set, very old and perfect, a crystal ball, a complete astrology set which hadn't even been looked through, a beginners in crystals set, and an antique Piatnik two set poker cards. Also a large collection of tarot and assorted books.
I'm always on the look-out for a bargain and you usually find that these things go for rock bottom prices because no one is interested in them - suites me :D
Hi Rusty & Happy 1111 !!!
I have briefly mentioned this before, so please 4-give me,
patient readers. I'd just like to once more thank my friend,
Tom, for putting a garage sale Rider Waite deck in my
greedy little palms accompanied by Eden Gray's "Complete
Guide to the Tarot" for the first time.
I've not been lucky running across decks. Just books on the
subject and a rather wide assortment of items that one
could use with Tarot if so desired. ( Crystals, bags, etc.)
Till next time thanx to all for letting me share again and
may you & yours walk in Love & Light...
Smoke...
We gotta go to Wisconsin!
I have never seen a Tarot deck at a yard sale, but the guy who has the local used book store says he sometimes gets some in- though I've never seen one there. Maybe he just said that to keep me coming back?
Chronata
25-03-2004, 11:52
Originally posted by jlbvt
We gotta go to Wisconsin!
No don't go to Wisconsin! There are lousy garage sales here unless you collect neon beer signs, farming implements and hunting/fishing equipment!
My Mom is is Oak Park, Illinois...the first suburb west of the city of Chicago.
This seems to be the place where all unloved tarot ends up!
But I warn you, you have to get up really early in the morning to beat her to those sales!
(she also volunteers in the "sorting room" of a huge charity resale shop, and so gets the first pick of stuff that comes in!)
Since my last post, she found me:
another Healing with the Fairies deck...
another unknown oracle deck...that I must research...
and an old tarock deck, that I will probably use as an oracle!
HudsonGray
25-03-2004, 14:47
Chronata, have her pick up ALL decks she finds & you can act as clearing house for them on the trade board here! How's that sound?
I can verify there's nothing at the sales in Wisconsin, I've looked. At least in the Watertown & Milwaukee area.
SongDeva
25-03-2004, 15:55
Nothing in Mass.
I think I even asked once.
Unknownspirit
11-02-2006, 12:04
Thanks for the tip Chronata! I live right by there. I better start checking out more garage sales.
Never any Tarot decks or books at garage/yard sales where I live. As "educated" as this area is, it is remarkably rednecked in beliefs and behavior. :(
VGimlet - Powell's Book store is my most favorite place on the planet! I even built a version of it in my Sims game! I wander for hours and spend lots of time in the Tarot section (the cool action figures they sell are great too)!
If I lived in Portland, I would try to be within walking distance of Powells!
valeria
floracove
11-02-2006, 18:24
My sister worked in an American Trift store for a few months, she found a tarot deck there, can't remember the title, right now, but it was in good condition.
Living down here in the south, we don't usually find these things, but I'm always on the look out.
I have a friend who works the Salvation Army store here in town, and she's on the look out for me, there, but so far nada. *shrugs*
Echos, HudsonGray - "Chronata, have her pick up ALL decks she finds & you can act as clearing house for them on the trade board here! How's that sound?"
Sounds like a great idea!
tarotbear
11-02-2006, 21:46
I bought my Connolly tarot at a tag sale for $1 ! It was a very eclectic sale, so anything could have been there. What made me suspicious is that next to it someone had made homemade black candles in jars.
I stood there and counted to make sure all the cards were there before I forked over my one buck.
Later on when I was trying to put the deck 'in order' and check it out I had the distinct impression that someone had tried to learn Tarot but 'didn't get it.' I almost wished that while I was buying it the owner would have asked me a question because I'd have whipped the deck out and done a reading for them to show how easy it is ... or was.
I've seen a tarot book here or there, but this is the only deck I ever found at a tag sale.
Annabelle
11-02-2006, 21:53
I have yet to find a tarot deck at a yard/garage sale. But thrift stores are a different matter :). I got my second tarot deck - a copy of the Robert Place Alchemical deck/book set, still in shrinkwrap - for only $2.00 at the local Goodwill thrift store. I had no idea at the time what an amazing find it was for that price - I just thought the deck was beautiful. And I still do :).
northsea
11-02-2006, 21:59
Nice find, Annabelle4! It might be more difficult to find them at Goodwill nowadays since they started selling a lot of the valuable goods online.
tarotbear
11-02-2006, 22:04
Nice find, Annabelle4! It might be more difficult to find them at Goodwill nowadays since they started selling a lot of the valuable goods online.
Goodwill is selling things online? That seems like a contradiction in terms somehow ....
I love this topic. Last year I spent a tremendous amount of time snooping around in dusty shops and flea markets. So far this year I haven't had much time for it though. I don't really do garage sales, but the few times I did, nothing turned up.
I've gotten some of my favorite decks at flea markets and antique shops. A 70ish RWS, a rare Hanson-Roberts (mentioned in The Encyclopedia of Tarot, Vol.3, Page 587), a "greenie" Thoth, two older (late 60s early 70s) Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling Playing Cards, and two European playing card decks. I think the most I paid for any of them was U.S. $5. Good scores are possible.
-fof
northsea
12-02-2006, 01:19
Agreed, tarotbear, I think their official mission is to offer donated stuff to people at bargain prices, though I'm not sure how non-profits operate. They are probably experiencing cuts in financial assistance and/or tax shelters from the government as "butter" is unpopular with the current admin.
Obsidian_Arrow
13-02-2006, 16:35
I found the Legend: The Arthurian Tarot set (book and cards), barely used, for only $5.00. I almost screamed when I saw it.
FantasyWorld
13-02-2006, 18:18
I went to a really cool yard sale in a dream once. Not sure if there was a Tarot deck but there were lots of Pagan type goodies:D:D:D
My area is yard sale central but haven't seen/noticed tarot decks or such. Don't get to go out yardselling anymore:(
NightWing
14-02-2006, 05:25
Unfortunately, I have never found anything tarot-related at yard sales: not decks, not books. Apparently, I'm in good company, judging from many of the previous postings. Frankly, it would seem to be a waste of time in most areas. Used book stores are a different matter in my area though. I've acquired a number of decks inexpensively that way, and several dealers now put aside things for me that they think might be of interest. I recently got a mint condition older Grimaud T. deM. in this manner.
tabbycat
14-02-2006, 05:38
Since my comment in 2004 I have found 2 decks in a second-hand bookstore - the Mythic and the Druidcraft. I also found the Winged Spirit on a market stall.
I still have this dream that I'll be looking through a dusty old cardboard box at a car-boot sale and find a whole heap of great decks in amongst the junk, maybe the Hermetic, the Greenwood, the Servants of the Light and the Rock and Roll.... Just a dream but, hey, it might happen! Better keep looking!
Little Baron
14-02-2006, 06:05
Always look around boot fairs. The thrill of looking is just as fun as the finding.
Found one deck once. Can't remember the name. A cheap set one, but can't remember the name. Quite liked it though. I think it was about 75p.
As summer comes, I will be off looking round more. Live in the countryside so there are always plenty on Sundays.
My favourite kind of shopping. Always find surprises that you are not expecting.
LB
Ok, let me see: in the last 5 years I got 2 tapestry, 1 Albano-Waite, 1 Adrian, 1 Margarete Petersen, 1 Dali tarot, 2 Deva tarot and one unknown tarot deck in garage sales or in stores for old stuff.
Apart from that lots of books (on various topics including tarot and witchcraft), strands of collorines and some smaller items such as stones, cauldrones, candle holders.
Not a yard sale but in a second hand place. Found a lovely pristine Russian deck which I sold on eBay for triple what I paid. Pretty happy with that.
HearthCricket
03-05-2006, 14:03
We used to have a huge town yard sale, every weekend, from spring to late fall, and occasionally a deck would show up. I never bought one, but they were usually the old ones-IJJ Swiss, Rider-Waite. I have seen boxed sets at local library book sales. The boxes usually look rather beat up, but the decks themselves are often still in their original wrappings and books are fine, too. I would love to play at a yard sale full of tarot. What fun that would be! Imagine the treasures one could find!
Mystic Leo
20-05-2006, 19:24
I wish!!