Do owners of rare decks have a responsibility towards them?

Richard

I don't hesitate to use my Lebanese Tarot, but I use a very gentle, minimally abrasive shuffle. There's no point in unnecessarily marring an irreplaceable deck of such exquisite beauty.
 

Bluefeet

I don't hesitate to use my Lebanese Tarot, but I use a very gentle, minimally abrasive shuffle. There's no point in unnecessarily marring an irreplaceable deck of such exquisite beauty.

I wouldn't break up any Adam's decks either, especially the Lebanese - it's the best among the bests. Such exquisite card stock! :heart:
 

OnePotato

As a serious tarot collector, I have a number of rare or extremely rare decks, ranging from 18th and 19th century antiques with "historical significance", through contemporary artists' original works and limited editions, many of which are entirely hand-produced.

I see myself as their current caretaker. I make a reasonable effort to see that they remain well looked after and well preserved, and I try to limit any wear & tear that my handling might add to them, as best I can. I do treat them differently from decks that are commercially produced products, or simply hard(er)-to-find.

As several people have pointed out, a complete rare deck is almost always worth more than the broken up pieces, so there actually aren't a lot of people going around breaking up complete decks and selling individual cards. The few historical cards that are being sold individually on ebay are almost certainly from incomplete decks. Most of the offerings don't sell.

The Rock & Roll has been an odd exception that doesn't actually have very much to do with the overall fate of "rare" or "historically significant" decks out there. In any case, it doesn't have much in common with the hand-painted original 15th c. Cary Yale, or even a late 19th c. Camoin Conver.

I suspect the vast majority of people who go to the trouble and expense of finding and buying decks of significant historical value will do just fine by them. (Rare or unique exceptions aside.)
 

merissa_88

I finally stopped collecting rare decks. I never owned anything as precious as a 14th century deck, but just owning the Greenwood and the majors-only Albano Waite felt weird. I was almost afraid of taking them out of their boxes and I read with my decks.

I know that is a bit neurotic, but a rare OOP deck feels like a rare book. You don't really own it, you are just a caretaker for a while. It's bizarre to think someone would split an historical deck up to sell it. Just my 2 cents.
 

G6

As a serious tarot collector, I have a number of rare or extremely rare decks, ranging from 18th and 19th century antiques with "historical significance", through contemporary artists' original works and limited editions, many of which are entirely hand-produced.

I see myself as their current caretaker. I make a reasonable effort to see that they remain well looked after and well preserved, and I try to limit any wear & tear that my handling might add to them, as best I can. I do treat them differently from decks that are commercially produced products, or simply hard(er)-to-find.

As several people have pointed out, a complete rare deck is almost always worth more than the broken up pieces, so there actually aren't a lot of people going around breaking up complete decks and selling individual cards. The few historical cards that are being sold individually on ebay are almost certainly from incomplete decks. Most of the offerings don't sell.

The Rock & Roll has been an odd exception that doesn't actually have very much to do with the overall fate of "rare" or "historically significant" decks out there. In any case, it doesn't have much in common with the hand-painted original 15th c. Cary Yale, or even a late 19th c. Camoin Conver.

I suspect the vast majority of people who go to the trouble and expense of finding and buying decks of significant historical value will do just fine by them. (Rare or unique exceptions aside.)

Where will your decks go when you leave planet Earth?
 

Mi-Shell

The sad story of an original Sangreal Tarot:

A VERY wealthy patient of mine got one as a little dinner present ~~ 4 years ago.
I had been teaching this lady a little about Tarot and how to read and so she obsessively started to buy all kinds of modern / run of the mill decks and also some OOP decks via e- bay.
One evening one of her - meanwhile 92 year old singing teachers was up from the US and gave her this absolute magnificent deck that had been in his possession since the time of its printing.
We all looked at the monochrome cards and I recognized it for what is was. But because it was Thoth "she" was not too fond of it..... did not like good old Aleister :(
Soon the party moved away from the dinner table, the gifted cards ended up on the mantle piece - there was no box
.... A while later I came back into the room and - saw Andora, her Cat playing with the cards - up on the mantle piece. Some were on the floor, as was a water pitcher, the Cat had toppled over. I tried to dry of the cards as good as I could; some had cute little Cat bite marks on them, others were bent and creased. My patient did not much care - to her it was just one of B.s' oooold decks......
 

Debra

Where will your decks go when you leave planet Earth?

I shall request, in my Last Will and Testament, that the cards be bound into the covers of completely unrelated books, and dropped into a dry well.

As is traditional.
 

gregory

That's a brilliant idea. :thumbsup:

My daughter is to sell mine - but HERE, not on ebay, so that they don't get Abused or Totally Unappreciated To The Full. I would follow debra's example, but said daughter needs the money; she has a disabled partner.
 

Desecrated

My tarot collection is really just at it's beginning, but I've been collecting books for a good 15 years now and here are my thought on it.

Books are meant to be read, even old books. You just have to be more careful with them.
Books from 18th century and forward are safe to handle and have displayed under normal conditions.
17th century books should preferable be cared for by professionals. But I think it's okay for private collectors to have one or two books like that.
As long as the private collector understand that it is a historical document and we are nothing but caretakers.

16th and 15th should be in a museum/library.
If we are talking first edition Don Quixote from 1605 or a 1667 Paradise lost I would sell them to the royal library. If I accidentally found one I might even give it to them.

Anything pre-'printing press' should be at a facility that handles old documents.
If I found an original set of Visconti cards they would be rushed to the library of congress.
Now, I'm in Sweden and you would think that I would give it to the Swedish royal library. But their facilities just isn't good enough. A complete set of hand painted cards needs to be at the library of congress. They have access to the worlds leading experts and smaller private firms that can do the correct restoration and preservation needed.

There is a common practice to cut up rare and valuable books...
I hate that. I really really loath it and I hope all the bad things in life comes to the people who do this.
Selling a deck card by card is morally unacceptable and historically damaging.
Unfortunately there is a market for it and it won't go away just by me bitching on a forum. But I really really hope people treat a set of cards as a unit. Those cards have traveled through history together and deserve to be kept together.