Lo Scarabeo Ancient Tarot of Marseilles

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 19 Nov 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Little Baron	19 Nov 2004
Hi Everyone I picked up the Lo Scarabeo 'Ancient Tarot of Marseilles' Conver deck the other day. So far, I have only used the Grimaud, which I like as it is very sharp to look at, but was quite attracted to this one when I saw it. My first impressions: the colours are kind of strange; acid greens and yellows; brasher than I thought it might be. Some bits seem to not be coloured and others look as though the painting over the picture is a little heavy handed. Also, the beige colouring in the backgrounds feel a bit murky. Does anyone use this deck? Was just hoping that people could give me their impressions and tell me how they find it. Yabs

Rusty Neon	19 Nov 2004
The colours and colour scheme are certainly genuine. The colours and colour scheme in that particular version of the 1760-moulds Conver are more recent than 1760 but before the more-restricted palate 1880 Conver colours. For information about the LS deck's 6 of Batons, see the post by Ross numbered #7 on the thread located at http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=22195. In contrast, the Heron's, Thunder Bay's, Jodo-Camoin's, Grimaud's and Fournier's 6 of Batons would follow the usual 1760 Conver design. Edited: to give the correct thread link

WolfSpirit	20 Nov 2004
I have this deck too, I got it in a trade. My first reaction was: gosh, this really looks old ! That is why I like it - not exactly pretty but it is if you really have something very old in your hands. I first thought there were spots on the bateleur and the empereur in the background. And did you notice cards like le pendu and la justice have only one clearly visible eye ? I guess it is either a case of you love it or you hate it. I think I like it more than crisp pictures. BTW Rusty - your link does not seem to work, I get the message the thread does not exist. Do you know a word from the thread title, so we can look for it ourselves ?

Little Baron	20 Nov 2004
Thanks for the info Rusty. I also noticed the 'missing eye' thing straight away and quite liked it. I looked at 'Le Pendu' and said 'oh my god, what happened to you?', hehe. I am looking forward to using this deck but I think that the colours will take a bit of getting used to. It's funny, because in a way, it doesn't feel that old, due to the starkness of colouring. I do like the courts a lot though; they feel a little more human than those of the Grimaud - it is the minor cards in the Grimaud that I like the most. Yabs

Rusty Neon	20 Nov 2004
WolfSpirit wrote: BTW Rusty - your link does not seem to work, I get the message the thread does not exist. Do you know a word from the thread title, so we can look for it ourselves ? Hi WolfSpirit ... I've edited my post above to give the correct thread link. Sorry about that!

The Lo Scarabeo Ancient Tarot of Marseilles thread was originally posted on 19 Nov 2004 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.