Got it!!
Well, I no longer need to battle with Amazon over this deck, and I will seriously consider other sources for any future decks.
On a whim, I decided to take a brief visit to my local Border's Books. In the past, they have been amazing in their ability to get in new decks (While Amazon was telling me that the Leonardo da Vinci and the Tarot of New Vision decks had not been released, they were sitting all bright and shiny in Border's case, but my order was pending, so I waited). Well, I walk over to their tarot case now (which they have decided no longer needs to be under lock and key like their adult DVDs) and
there it is!!!!. I went to the counter with it, used my educators' discount and the remnants of a gift card I had, and I end up spending about as much as I would have with Amazon! Border's had it priced at $20, so I ended up shelling out less than $15.
It is beautiful, Kat! I had seen the pictures of the cards many times, and it is wonderful that U.S. Games did such a superb job all around. The gilt edges are beautiful and the images wonderfully reproduced on very good card stock. Even the box, with the perfectly fitting book, is gorgeous. This is one deck for which I won't even consider needing a tarot bag. The book is comprehensive and compact, including all the info that most of us want to see: artist visions of the meanings and references for the imagery used. I have to study the images more, but I did look up a couple of the rampant lion shields to see if they might have originated with my Scottish clan (either the Macduff's or the Wemyss's).
All this done at such an affordable price! I will have to go to U.S. Games website and leave my praises there as to how much respect and care they put into producing a top-flight deck.
Kudos to you, Kat!!