Flaws in decks...

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 03 Oct 2001, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Andryh	03 Oct 2001
Call me a nitpicker, but I have been noticing some tiny flaws in some recently purchased decks. The four of swords in my Halloween deck has a white spot in the backdrop where the printer failed to deposit ink. Also, the nine of pentacles in my Connolly deck has the same probelm. The three of cups card in my Nigel Jackson deck has a spot of apparent discoloration too. This really drives me crazy! I thought that these were just idiosyncratic flaws in my particular decks, but I was very surprised to notice that in scanned cards on the internet, these same cards exhibited the same flaws! Does every nine of pentacles in the Connolly deck ever printed bear this flaw? Has anyone else been terribly annoyed by these little imperfections? If there are more perfect versions of these decks, are replacement cards available through the manufacturers? Lots of questions, but if you can answer any or all of them, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

EveAnna	03 Oct 2001
When I get new decks the first thing I check is to make sure all the colours have been printed in line - I'm not too bothered about flaws that appear in all decks, Original Rider Waite has a few, but I don't think I could work with a deck that had been spoiled by sloppy printing. Its never happened yet so I'm not sure what I would do with a spoiled deck keep it or send it back for a replacement?

Frankie	04 Oct 2001
Hi-I think they may be all the same,the 9 of pentacles has a slight imperfection(on the woman's dress?) in my edition but I must admit,I wouldn't of noticed it.BUT..there is one flaw that does annoy me and puts me off and thats the Witches Tarot by E.Reed,where there's a printing error with the numbers of the Wheel of Fortune and Justice-Wheel=11 and Justice =10 but printed in the book corresponding to the deck they are numbered how we know them correctly to be.Oh well - nice to know that even "the professionals" make mistakes???

Andryh	04 Oct 2001
Just FYI: I contacted U.S. Games regarding the flaws in the Connolly deck via e-mail. They contacted me the next day and informed me that my defective card replacements were in the mail! Talk about prompt, wonderful customer service. I'm wondering though, now that I've heard that other decks have this same flaw, if the replacement cards will have better quality or not. I suppose if the problem is in the actual press, that all the cards will have the same problem. Anyway, if you have defective cards in your deck collection, it may be worth a try to contact the manufacturer. As I said, my experience with U.S. Games was a good one. Even if the replaced cards still bear the same flaws, I'll still be happy that they were good enough to try to correct the problem.

orczy	07 Oct 2001
I had the same problem with the Oswald Wirth deck; the coulours were offset. I had placed a post in Trade forum, then I read your post. I emailed US Games, and I am happy to say I got the same excellent quick service that you did. Thankyou for your post. I never would have thought of getting replacement cards from the publishers.

The Flaws in decks... thread was originally posted on 03 Oct 2001 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.