Please Help Identify Rider Waite Tarot Deck

Cassia311

Hi everyone!

Glad I found this forum and am hoping for a little insight into what sort of deck I recently acquired. I picked it up for free at a massive clothing exchange. I do not know who it came from or anything about its history. The box it came in has some character-adding wear on the edges but the deck itself is absolutely flawless.

I was immediately struck by the ankh symbol on the back since I had never seen that on a deck before. I then began comparing the cards to this website (http://www.wopc.co.uk/tarot/rider-waite/rider-waite-early-editions) to try to decipher which version of the Rider Waite deck it belongs to. I'm stumped.

The line work matches that of the Pam-A deck but I noticed something very peculiar about the Fool card. His right arm (left side when looking at the card) is not colored! None of the decks shown in the comparisons of WOPC and none of the decks I could find online are missing the shading on the Fool's arm.

I don't see how to add photos yet but I did take a few to share. I'll see if I can figure out how to add them after creating the new thread. Again, I appreciate any insight into helping me solve the riddle of his magickal deck!
 

Cassia311

Can't figure out how to upload images

You guys recommend any places where I could add the images? I can't figure it out.
 

Darkmage

It sounds like you scored a copy of the University Press deck. Congratulations!! You've got a collector's item on your hands. It goes for a good chunk of change on Ebay.

I have two copies and I love both of them. One is retired and it was my *very* first deck. The other I lucked out on and got for less than $20 the week after Christmas, complete with box and LWB. A couple of the cards have a small bit of wear but it looks more like printer's errors than actual wear and tear.

Take care of this and it's a deck that's sturdy and will last for many many years.
 

truelighth

The RWS decks shown on the wopc site are the really old decks, the first editions. Also known as the Pam decks. So Pam A,B,C, D and Roses&Lilies. So no wonder you couldn't find this one among them. You can use the images on there to compare which Pam deck it would be based on. But most RWS decks have the Pam-A as a basis.

The fact that there is an Ankh on the back indeed means that it is a University Book version. Indeed a collectable. The backs are red. There is also a Dutch version with the Ankh and Dutch titles. Also a collectable by now.

Does your deck come in a red slide box? Or in a normal tuckbox. There is a difference.
 

gregory

You guys recommend any places where I could add the images? I can't figure it out.
Upload to imgur.com and post a link. You cannot add attachments unless you are a subscriber.