"Vintage" Thoth on ebay ?

[redflash]

I take it this one is something a bit special ? Not that I have any money to bid for it anyway !

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-Thoth-...QQcmdZViewItem

[Lillie]

Well, to some extent.

There are quite a few around if you keep a look out.

These old ones were published in the very nice slip case boxes from 69 to somewhere around the mid 70's.

They come in three varieties.

Weiser USA

Llewellyn USA

Llewellyn Hong Kong.

All three are very similar, but the Weiser one is said to be the first. However all of them could be considered vintage.

There are a few odddities particular to the Llewellyn. The 8 Cups has the number misssing and the Ace discs is upside down.

The borders are a plain white/pale blue, and are very variable in colour. Every decks having cards that are so pale they are almost white, and some that are a delicate pale blue colour, and every shade in between.

The print quality is absolutly rubbish. The pictures are fuzzy, the colours are muddy, and many decks have cards that are mis-printed. The most common faults being that some cards are badly 'bleached' like they have faded, but really they were printed like that, or the printing is 'doubled', like it has been printed twice, but a little off set.
These faults are usually only on one or two cards in a deck.

So, whay would people want them? I hear you ask.
Well, they are old, they are interesting, some people think they have more 'Crowley power' than other versions.
They have the nicest box of any version.
There are no borders on the backs. Which is nice.

So, how much are they worth?
Well, it depends.
They are vintage, and long OoP, I have seen them go for very little. I picked up my weiser for about £6. But it would have helped the seller if they had put a pic and a proper discription.
I thought I was getting a USG greenie till it arrived!

I believe I saw someone trying to sell one for about £100 not too long ago. I think the bidding went up to £80 with the reserve not met.
(this seller was actually one of the bidders on the auction you link too. This person seem to like these, but to have an inflated sense of their value)

The price would very much depend on condition. The presence of the OTO card, and an undamaged box are always a good thing.
It's hard to find out about the doubled printing, so usually a buyer would not know about that until they got them.

I would say a fair price would be £30-£40 for a 'used' copy, or one that has slight imperfections.
£50-£60 for one that is perfect.
But like I said, many are unknow quantities, you don't know what you got till you got it.
So, for that, every individual buyer would have to decide for themselves how much they would want to risk.

But this is just me thinking about what I have seen stuff go for on Ebay, and what I would pay (if I had the money).
Possibly tarot garden would know more about the proper pricing of these.
Although with stuff like this, it's what ever anyone is willing to pay for it!

Oh my god!
Look how much I wrote!
I'm a Thoth nerd!

[euripides]

very interesting Lillie, thank you!

By the way, with regards to buying vintage... well I've spent way too much on ebay. But there are other sellers around with fixed, and often reasonable, prices. I googled some vintage decks and found this place:

http://www.intercol.co.uk/acatalog/Playing_Cards.html

- haven't dealt with them, so don't know if they are reliable -

also this place

http://www.weiserantiquarian.com/cgi...455/index.html

I wonder if we have a thread here somewhere on secondhand/vintage sources?

I've seen new copies of old decks that I've bought going cheaper than I paid, but there's something nice about a used deck, for me personally. The old printing and card quality is often good.


Back to the thoth - so is the Weiser USA a good printing? I think I'd put up with the borders if the print quality is good. I love good art. (Haven't got my first Thoth yet). I'm also considering the mini thoth - does the artwork scale down well?

thanks!

[Antonius]

I actually like the old thoth deck 69 to 70s better than the current version,even though it is true that the present day thoth is much clearer and closer to the original paintings,(apart from the decorative borders) the old plain border thoth in slip case box just has more old charm about it.

And here are the 22 arcana old Thoth pics.

I have this picture on my pc as my screensaver, looks cool,

And if anybody would like the full size pic for a screensaver,just post me your email and il send it to you,or you can just resize it up.