Tarot de Nostradamus; is it fake?

[Le Fanu]

Ive bought the so-called "Tarot de Nostradamus" published by Heron. I really rather like it, though I much prefer its other name "Tarot des Centuries." All I know about it is that it is a combination of Payen and a supposed 17th Century deck.

Can anyone tell me anything else about it? I came across this thread;

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread...ht=nostradamus

...but I cannot find anything else about it. Id love to know which cards are Payen (1713?), which cards are from an unknown deck, what is this "unknown deck"? etc. What I find odd is that some of the colouring (see the shield of the Emperor for example) looks like it has been done with coloured pencil á la Hanson-Roberts. The Knight of Swords looks like a modern copy trying to imitate the style of 17th Century woodcuts.

Apart from these issues, I love it. I love the colours, the square edges, the titles of the cards which do not follow conventional titles. I laid it out this morning with my Conver and my Vieville. Fascinating. Anyone else care to enthuse or enlighten me or redirect me to a place where I can find out more?

[Astraea]

Hi Le Fanu. I can't provide any information, but I can certainly join you in enthusing over this deck - I love it, too, and for all the reasons you mention. I'm glad you got it.

[Moonbow]

I have this deck too, and although not the nicest of Marseilles I think its an important deck because its likely the only Payen or Payen-type deck out there for those of us who like to compare, or differentiate between Marseilles decks. Ross' post in the thread you link to is all that I know about this deck as well.

[Hooked on TdM]

What really bothers me about this deck is calling it a Nostradamus tarot. I have read a lot on Nostradamus (he's a favourite subject of mine) and not once I have come across a singular reference to him using tarot. He used scrying (a bowl or basin with water and a branch, wouldn't be surprised if he used his fireplace either.) mostly with what little we know of how he made predictions.

So right there it has a big x for me, since it has no historically correct reference to him (unless someone can enlighten me here and I'm wrong.) The other big x for me is that it seems to be a hybrid of an old deck and new additions.

I was going to buy it at first but those two things really bug me. So enjoy it anyways! I'm discovering I'm really a historical purist at heart! lol

Hooked

[Le Fanu]

I just ignore the name and call it "Tarot des Centuries". The Nostradamus connection is baloney, but I think you´d get a lot of out of this deck, Hooked. It´s a TdM (admittedly it has its flaws), but for reference and comparison, it´s fascinating. There is the Payen connection, and Ive just been looking at the Dodal and am struck by the similarities between a lot of these cards and the Dodal, so while the Dodal remains ever-elusive, this is a fine deck to have in one´s collection. A kind of poor man´s Dodal.

Beautiful colours and images, beautiful printing and cardstock. I like it, I just wish I knew more about it...