Blue Box Rider Waite RWS

gregory

:lightbulb

It could be one of the Fabbri decks that LS put together for a magazine. LeFanu - did it have the emperor on the box ? though I think the title read Tarot Universel.... I will dig mine out later. That IS a tuck box (though LS style with the good bottoms !) and though blue, it's absolutely NOT the blue box that missy is after.
 

coredil

There are quite a lot of details to consider about the Blue Box RWS.
I would like to point again to Fulgour's post in this thread:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=66884&page=1&pp=10

Anyone who is interested in details about the Blue Box should read attentively each Fulgour's post.
He has a lot of knowledge concerning this subject and I guess nothing new has been added since he wrote about this ;)
I am sure Fulgour would know about a Tuck Blue Box ;)
He probably still reads the Forum but alas does not participate any more.

Indeed the LWB are funny to study too.
I will post scans of 4 Blue Box LWB, they are all different.
Also the face of the Fool is a nice detail to consider.
Some Fools have what Fulgour calls a "Blushy Face" in opposition to a creamy face :)

Best regards
 

gregory

Fulgour has never mentioned a tuck blue box. I absolutely agree. I still hope to hear from Frank Jensen, too.

Oh - and PS - there WAS a blue box with USG crap on the cards, according to Fulgour: (my bold.) How ODD !

Over the years, USGames has made dozens of changes to the box...
My theory is that this was done for manufacturing and inventory logic,
but there have been changes made to the cards as well. Three main
types were published before today's slick computer font title editions.

All dates are based on educated guesswork:

1971-72 Rider re-introduces the deck (no copyright).
The cardstock is thick, the lamination waxy smooth.
These are known as the Rider blue box 1st edition.
Weiser Inc and USGames get yellow-box versions.

But at around 1975 USGames manages to have their
copyright printed on a second generation of the cards.
These are still packed in a blue box by Rider but now
we see changes to the yellow box. Weiser is out of it.

Oh - Holly's page has LOADS of fools with all sorts of faces :)
 

Le Fanu

gregory said:
:lightbulb

It could be one of the Fabbri decks that LS put together for a magazine. LeFanu - did it have the emperor on the box ? though I think the title read Tarot Universel.... I will dig mine out later. That IS a tuck box (though LS style with the good bottoms !) and though blue, it's absolutely NOT the blue box that missy is after.
No, I know that edition. I see them all over the place here. Yes, it's called Tarot Universal.The one I'm talking about which I saw on ebay, I saw briefly, put it in "watched" and then forgot to bid! I could have sworn it was the World box, flattened out (bad condition) and scanned. I made a mental note at the time. Maybe I dreamt it, but until I saw this thread, I never questioned it...

And, yes, both my Rider & Co Blue Box decks have US Games copyright on the cards. It must have been an early 80s thing...
 

Kimber

Sulis said:
There isn't a 'tuckbox' blue box and it has never been published by USG.
The blue box is in 2 parts and the cards are published by Rider & Co. The cards don't have any copyright mark on them because it was before USG got the copyright.
The deck has a blue plaid back like the current USG version.
Sometimes the deck is called 'The Travellers Tarot' - still in a blue 2 part box with The World Dancer on it.

The Traveller's Tarot Sulis refers to is a smaller edition rather than a full size RWS (the compact size presumably makng the deck more portable for "travellers"). If there's a full size version, I've never seen one, and I'm a RWS Freak. :c)

I agree that there was never a blue tuck box.

And I dislike that tarotee back just as mich now as I did 30 years ago! LOL
 

gregory

I just heard back from Frank Jensen. The definitive answer is NO. (As far as I am concerned, he and Holly are the two oracles of W-S printings !)

So whatever was seen on ebay was a fake or a weirdly flattened two part box, I guess !

He suggests people read it up in his book on the deck - a smart suggestion I shall follow later when I catch up on my on-line life (cut off by electrical failure at the transmitter for some days !)
 

missy

Sulis said:
As for it being 'desirable'; it depends what you want it for. If you want it as a reading deck then I'd say that one isn't any more desirable than another.
Do you want it as a collectors piece or to read with?
I'd say that either way one is not more desirable than another because they are all beautiful, vintage decks.
Mine has marks on the backs of a few cards and they're not perfect because they are old and they've been loved.

There is also a blue box version by Rider which is titled 'The Travellers Tarot'... Same blue box, same cards.

Mine would be a reading copy, although of course it is also a collectible. It would be my primary RWS reading deck so I could retire my early 90s copy.

I want it for the loveliness of the unlaminated cards and for the pureness of no copyright. I have no desire for it to be "perfect."

I have never liked the U.S. Games copyright on the cards. So I will try to find one without it.
 

missy

coredil said:
Oh the Blue Box!
Just for the pleasure and to illustrate the confusion and what rwcarter wrote I post some scans and photos from 3 copy of my collection.

The cards within the boxes are identical and without copyright.
But the 3 Blue Boxes are different!
See for yourself :)

I must post this in three post:

1. Overview
2. Top
3. All sides

Have fun ;)

Some comments:
Looking at the overview pics, they seem at first sight to be identical, except for the different blue.

Thank you, coredil, for all of these beautiful pix! Boxes indeed are a story unto themselves. :)
 

missy

Le Fanu said:
Plus - to confuse things even more - I bid but didn't win a RWS Blue Box on ebay UK before this. There was a photograph of the box and it was flattened and was definitely a tuckbox. I remember thinking "odd. Not like my box" and thought no more of it...

Le Fanu, I swear that I also bid on one on eBay that had a similar blue tuck box! This was some months ago. The bidding went too high for me at the time. I did not know this was not a normal box, so I did not keep a photo of the auction item. I thought maybe I was seeing double, and I have no proof as I have no photo of the auction.

EDIT: I HAVE FOUND THE AUCTION. WILL POST PIX.
 

missy

Blue tuckbox. Found!

Okay!

Here are the actual photos of the blue tuckbox one on eBay that I bid on.

And here was the auction.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390113056749

It was called, "Vintage Rider Tarot Cards 78 Cards 1972" and ended on Nov. 8, 2009. Le Fanu, did you bid on that one, too?

As you guys can see, it has the World with the wreath, although I cannot tell whether the wreath is yellow or green.

You can also see the photos, which are still on Auctiva at the time of this writing, here:

http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages...7729,315557708&formats=0,0,0,0,0,0,0&format=0

I am also going to upload the two blue tuckbox images as attachments so when the auction is taken down we will still have them as evidence. :D

This doesn't look like a bootleg box. Maybe it is, but it seems to look authentic.

I will still personally look for a two-part blue box, as this is the one I really want to own! :party: :heart: But at least I know now I am not going crazy, thinking there was a blue tuckbox. There really WAS a blue tuckbox!
 

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