Do owners of rare decks have a responsibility towards them?

In the thread about the misuse of Tarot decks, gregory raised an interesting story about an extremely rare deck which someone wanted to gut and sell/share by the card. Now the deck belonged to that person, they could do whatever they wanted, but do you think that owners of rare, historical decks have a responsibility to take care of them?

I'm not talking about new "limited" or so-called "special" editions but decks that have historical value like the Pam A or B, or the Sangreal Thoth, or other decks that cannot be replaced and represent stages in Tarot development. If you owned a 14th century deck (assuming money wasn't an issue and you wouldn't sell it) would you use it? Riffle shuffle? Go by the philosophy of "decks are meant to be used" or preserve it as a historical artifact?

For me it would be like finding the first copy of the Bible and using it as toilet paper... I just couldn't do it...

If I owned a 14th century deck, I wouldn't even breathe in its direction. I would still love, love, love to read with it, but it would probably look more like me carefully rearranging 78 vacuum boxes, hands in gloves, and surrounded with an ultra-soft protective net in case I drop anything.

Yes, I guess I do think that historically important/rare decks constitute humanity's treasure in a way, much like any other old and historically significant objects, so their owners, ideally, ought to feel a certain responsibility. I've met a few people for who antiques, vintage things, and ancient artifacts are nothing more than 'that old rubbish', though. I think those people are better off moving their 'old rubbish' to other people who can appreciate them more.

If I owned a deck that was so old and rare, I think I may actually donate it to a museum to be on show there. I would love to keep it, but I'd worry about it becoming ruined and then lost forever. So, I'd feel much better just donating the deck to someplace where everyone had the chance to view it at least--in a place where it would be taken care of.

That said, I wouldn't judge the person who did own it and treat it however they wish to do so. It is their deck after all.

I do have many other antiques in my possession, but they are not tarot cards. The antiques we have, we also use regularly. After all they were made to be used. But now, as I said, I'm not talking about a rare and very old tarot deck--but furniture and dishes, and such like that.

I second celticnoodle.

I will use any deck I own. I don't know if I would feel any differently if I did own a genuinely OLD TdM or something. I do own several very rare more modern ones, but only one is seriously fragile, and that not through age but through what I would consider appallingly ill-selected cardstock (no I will not name it !)

I would feel I had no "right" to break any deck up and sell it by the card, though. And I would NOT sell a deck like the Sangreal (if I had one - anyone offering, please PM ) on ebay; I'd make damn sure it went to someone who had the proper respect for it.

While I'm in 100% agreement with Celticnoodle; the horrible truth is that I would probably rationalize that the deck "came to me for a reason" and I'd use it excessively <evil grin>. Never been one to resist temptation or show restraint...
Michael

celticnoodle said:

If I owned a deck that was so old and rare, I think I may actually donate it to a museum to be on show there. I would love to keep it

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I'd absolutely donate it, and I would never want to keep it! I'm a bit of a trainwreck, I cannot be permitted anywhere near something rare like that without proper supervision!

I have some collectible items as well, but nothing that would really affect the world if they were damaged. I much prefer it that way. I don't want the responsibility of preserving something historical. Yeah, 200 years from now, books are written saying "A pristine hand gilded tarot deck from 1400 AD was discovered in 2015, but tragically had a starbucks caramel macchiato spilled on it 2 years later."

closrapexa said:

In the thread about the misuse of Tarot decks, gregory raised an interesting story about an extremely rare deck which someone wanted to gut and sell/share by the card. Now the deck belonged to that person, they could do whatever they wanted, but do you think that owners of rare, historical decks have a responsibility to take care of them?

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Why is selling the cards from an OOP deck one by one a bad thing? If there are 78 owners out there with incomplete decks I'd say this person is doing a good thing, yes?

goldenVI said:

Why is selling the cards from an OOP deck one by one a bad thing? If there are 78 owners out there with incomplete decks I'd say this person is doing a good thing, yes?

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It's like cutting up a rare manuscript or a set of painting designed to hang together, and selling it off in parts - the whole is then broken and ruined, probably never to be assembled again

The deck in question (the one that got this thread started !) was a Sangreal. (there have been others - notably the Rock and Roll - but that is less "important".) The Sangreal is a HUGELY significant deck, historically, and I've never even seen one in a museum. THAT rare.

It would be like selling the Mona Lisa in 5 cm squares so that everyone could have a bit. Vandalism.

Cross posted with PW, with whom I TOTALLY agree.

http://www.manteia-online.dk/deckreviews/dr049.htm has the only pix I can find on line*.

From the Manteia review of another Thoth:

Sangreal One Color Tarot
Around 1968 (early 1960's according to the Encyclopedia of Tarot) the Simpson Printing Company of Dallas, Texas reprinted the illustrations from the first edition of "The Book of Thoth" as a monochrome deck. -the images are printed with blue ink, and the backs are in red. About 250 decks were made. An article in "Magical Blend" refers to another deck tinted in green and published by Shambhala, likewise in 1968.

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*No - wait: Here are a couple