Do owners of rare decks have a responsibility towards them?

[Yelell]

Like a baseball card, put it in a little black lined frame, hang it on the wall. I can totally see people doing that.

 

[G6]

Like a baseball card, put it in a little black lined frame, hang it on the wall. I can totally see people doing that.

And get a magnifying glass out for your guests to view it? I wouldn't bother. If the artist sells a print of the card that's another story.

 

[gregory]

How can you be certain someone with an incomplete deck didn't buy one of those cards?

Given that there weren't that many of the decks ever printed - I'd lay money against it. It is still evil to break up a complete deck like that. (and yes they started out complete - ALL the cards were individually listed.)

 

[La Force]

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...

Oh yes Gregory did raise this very interesting story, I do very much feel that the owner/s of such a rare deck, should be obligated and be respectful of such a deck, for the whole of the tarot community, the historical value is priceless. It would be a crime, to do anything but.

 

[SarahJoy]

I would assume people buying the individual cards are deck owners that have a missing or damaged card from that deck they'd like to replace. I would have no problem selling individual cards from an OOP for this purpose. However, from experience, if the decks were not printed around the same time they won't match and for me personally that would be annoying, BUT probably still preferable to an incomplete deck.

I think you're discussing a different idea than everyone else. You seem to be thinking about this as "any rare OOP deck". The question is more about impossibly rare historically significant decks. Let's say I found a never-before-seen 1700s Marseille-variant partial deck at an estate sale, and use that as an example. I think the deck should be treated like any other historically valuable piece of art.

In my opinion, the owner has a responsibility to archivally preserve the deck. They should be stored at the proper temperature and humidity, in acid-free storage, etc. The deck should not be handled with bare hands -- certainly no shuffling. Cards must be displayed in low-light conditions, and rotated regularly to prevent too much UV damage. In other words, treated like works on paper in a museum. The idea is to preserve a historical object for enjoyment of generations to come. It makes sense that some would rather donate it to a museum than deal with the responsibility themselves!

As for breaking up the deck, well, it has more value (fiscally and otherwise) if left intact. The only reason I see to "break up" the deck would be to temporarily loan out cards for display in an exhibition.

Now obviously, if you own the deck, you can do as you please. However, I believe art and history should be valued and cared for.

 

[Ace]

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

I didn't assume that when I heard it. More like splitting grandma's tea set up so the grandkids could each keep a cup or saucer as a rememberance.

As I say - the Rock and Roll cards were sold just so people could have a pic of whichever star they liked on a tarot card. And of course, also so that the - three, as I recall - sellers who were doing it could get upwards of $780 for a deck you could with diligence buy for $100. (I know this; I got one for $80 at about that time !) Some individual cards like Jim Morrison got up to $30 and more.

I think this is a wonderful discussion that actually had relevance elsewhere: Map collectors are destroying (they call it bursting) old atlases because the individual maps are worth more than the complete atlas. One is "just" a book the other is a set of pretty pictures you can sell to collectors to hand on their walls. Myself, I see it as wanting an animal head and not caring about whether or not the animal is going extinct.

Tarot decks (with a few exceptions like the Rock N Roll mentioned above, I thought were mostly prized for their set, not as individual art, but I don't have an ear to the collecting world so I don't know.

As with Atlases being "burst" I think this trend would be appalling (I agree with Yellel) but I am not a collector.

barb

 

[gregory]

I think this is a wonderful discussion that actually had relevance elsewhere: Map collectors are destroying (they call it bursting) old atlases because the individual maps are worth more than the complete atlas. One is "just" a book the other is a set of pretty pictures you can sell to collectors to hand on their walls. Myself, I see it as wanting an animal head and not caring about whether or not the animal is going extinct.

REALLY ? I am horrified. Please don't tell my SO - he is MAD for old atlases.... Point me towards a few...

 

[Yelell]

Oh my god I can't believe you brought that up! I BOUGHT one of those maps from a ripped apart atlas. I didn't know it when I bought it. It was not advertized as anything of the sort. I bought it for my dad, a map of ancient assyria babylonia, and realized where it came from when it arrived -- an 1800's atlas of ancient holy lands. I felt really bad about that

 

[Farzon]

I have studied history of arts, so I'll give a clear yes; owners have a responsibility. Even if the deck is "only" out of print, in some decades it will be a witness of today's culture and arts. And we will not know which deck will be of historical significance some day in the future. As far as I know, there was nearly no interest in the Thoth until the 1960s.

And if the deck was ancient I'd say keep it safe. Use it if the cards still allow it and show it to the public in temporary collaborations with museums.

 

[Zephyros]

Now, as a disclaimer I have to stress that I'm not calling anyone a terrorist or making any comparisons, but the fact is, both ISIS as well as Saudi Arabia are destroying humanity's cultural heritage, some of the oldest sites in the world. They both do it for different reasons, and there are always reasons, but isn't destroying a deck by distributing the cards separately or even using it to destruction the same kind of thing? Sure, the deck is yours, just as ISIS conquered some of the oldest sites of human settlements ever, and they are destroying them because of reasons.

It isn't only them, either. How many stories have we heard of landmarks in the West being demolished in order to build new shopping malls?

It's all basically the same. Once history is gone, a deck used to death or dispersed, it is gone forever and nothing can bring it back.