Looking for a specific deck

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 23 Nov 2001, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Seventh Key	23 Nov 2001
I'm looking for a deck in the rider-waite style but without any copyright symbols on it, as I would like it to age it and make it look ancient. Any Ideas?

jmd	24 Nov 2001
Somebody please correct me if I'm mistaken, but I thought that all artistic output remained the intellectual copyright property of the author/artist... This may only apply in Australia, where this law was, I was led to believe, modified a number of years ago! Whether or not this is the case, why don't you contact US Games or whoever currently has copyright (it should be on a recent deck box), write to them, explain what you wnat to do and get their permission? Someone else may have other, or better, suggestions... Quote: Of course the two posts which follow are correct... my error... I had read the question as wishing to age a deck for commercial purposes! As the decks are usually laminated, you may wish to instead obtain a plain BOTA deck, which is on unlaminated cardboard, and paint and 'age' them yourself. The BOTA is very similar to the R/W except for (XIII) Death and (XVIIII) the Sun

tarotbear	24 Nov 2001
Aging it and making it look ancient has nothing to do with the copyright of the design as long as you do not try to market your creation. Is that why you want a copyright-marking free deck? The deck is usually laminated, so I'm wondering how you will 'age' it.

numbrel	24 Nov 2001
Copyright means that no one but the copyright holder can benefit monetarialy from their work. Seventh Key didn't say that s/he wanted to sell the deck after making it look old. Once someone has purchased something they can do whatever they want as long as it doesn't hurt the copyright owner or they try to make money on it. At least in the US. numbrel

Freddie	25 Nov 2001
Hi, Check out eBay. I don't think U.S. games used the Copyright logo on their cards until 1974. You can look at the scanned pictures and tell if they are marked or not in the right hand corner of the card. The original Rider-Waite from U.S. games isn't plastic coated. Good luck and let us know how it turns out, Freddie

Seventh Key	25 Nov 2001
Thanks for the answers. I certainly didn't mean to abuse someone else's creation by marketing it without paying any royalties. My intent is to make a tarot deck that will LOOK authentically old. A copyright mark on a deck is a minor detail, but if picked up could ruin what the look I was trying to achieve. I looked at the BOTA deck, which seems very close to what I want, though I'd be happier with a colored deck. Thanks for the second tip, will look for old rider-waite deck on Ebay and second hand shops. Will be happy to hear other Ideas. Thanks again for the info.

Seventh Key	25 Nov 2001
Just had a closer look at the BOTA deck and found out the back is blank - except for the BOTA name,adress and logo. Bummer ! Cheers all

The Looking for a specific deck thread was originally posted on 23 Nov 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.