Bargain, Bust or Best of the Bunch...

[galadrial]

Bargain: The Kazanlar deck, new, off ebay for $15.00.
Kardz: the Funny Animal Tarot for $12.00 + another $8.00 for the 15 Kardz Zines. He'd stopped selling the deck and sent me one of his own copies, then ran out of some of the Zines and actually ran off copies in order to send me a complete set. I think I'm safe in thinking that I got the last of both.

Busts: Arthurian. I got the deck and accompanying books, loved the concepts and the Matthews' impressive scholarship, but couldn't use the deck. It was too harsh and bleak. Fortunately, the information transferred well to the Legend: Arthurian and Celtic Wisdom decks, both of which I have no trouble using. Also, I was able to trade it for the Nigel Jackson, which I enjoy.
Waking the Wild Spirit. Wonderful artwork and easy to read with but I just couldn't take it seriously and always chose a different deck to work with. Recently traded it for the Cloisters deck (thank goodness for the Tarot Trading part of this forum!).

Best of the Bunch: Margarete Petersen. Greenwood (definately not a bargain, but worth every penny).

 

[Melvis]

Bargain: PoMo, Healing Earth, Greenwood, Hermetic, Norse: All from Half-Price Books for less than $15.00 each!

Bust: One World - Eeeww. Even for just 99 cents. Eeeww.
Tapestry - Bleh.

Best: These are the decks I keep in my "I-just-wanna-do-a-quick-spread" Basket:
World Spirit
Light and Shadow
New Palladini
Phantasmagoric Theatre
Gill

And I keep the William Blake Tarot and its book in my car so I can grab it when I stop at a coffee shop for a break!

Peace,

Melvis

 

[Khatruman]

Bargain: Hands down the deck that returned me to tarot, The William Blake Tarot of the Creative Imagination, which I found in a bargain bin at Borders Book Store for $5

Bust: concurring with everyone else... the Lord of the Rings Tarot... followed closely by the Lord of the Rings Oracle deck. Like everyone said..could have been much better.

Best: so hard to say... all the decks I have are just so wonderful

 

[skytwig]

Yes, Khat, that was probably a gift from your guardian angels!!

For me, hmmmmm...... i don't have very many decks....

Gifted to me: Mother peace and Tarot of the Old Path (my first deck!!)

Bargains: the owner of a discount book store let me rummage through the basement of the building.... oh, that was delicious.... I found the Mythic Tarot and Book and the Inner Child set.... I think I paid $2 for each!!! (Found Ted Andrews and all kinds of wonderful books....... )

Bust.... hmmmm, none so far, although I really don't use the Motherpeace set.....

Best: don't think I own it yet.... I love Thoth, but I'm looking forward to MPress's sets and Baba Pragues cats and Mary El's deck.......

 

[Strange2]

Bargains:

Hermetic - $15
New Tarot (Le Psycho) - $18 (from Canada)
Greenwood - $27

Busts:

Tarot of Transformation (beautiful artwork, flimsy cards)
Arcus Arcanum (too Prince Valient like)

Bests: (difficult to pick just a few)

Crowley/Harris Thoth (1978 deck, what got me started)
Tarot Balbi (love the minors)
Elemental (original edition, signed Star card by Caroline Smith)
Fractal Firebird (signed by Maria Kruse)
Mary-El Tarot (limited edition)
Masonic Tarot
Shining Tribe
Tarot de la Rea (signed by Allain Boucher)
Tarot of the Sephiroth
Tarot of the Spirit

 

[ncefafn]

Bargain - Ferret Tarot, a bargain at any price, and it came with its own catnip-scented bag!

Bust - Sola Busca (Ancient Enlightened), Napo

Best of the Bunch - Robin Wood (the go-to guy of the Tarot world for me), the Roots of Asia Tarot (simply breathtakingly beautiful and evocative art), the Ferret, the Halloween (surprisingly deep)

 

[Chronata]

Bargain decks...all the ones I found for 50 cents to a dollar at various garage and yard sales in the past...
including the Tarot Balbi, Morgan Greer, Tarot Nova, teeny tiny RWS, 1JJ Swiss, and Baseball among others. Even if I never ever read with them, they were soooo darn cheap!

Bust...Crow's Magick. I am still not sure what posessed me to buy this deck. Proof that if ever again I find myself in a Border's Books, and they don't have the deck I came in for, that I should just leave.

Best...I love most of my decks, and that love is very clear by the fact that I still have them, and have not given them away!

But I have a special fondness for the ones that were given to me out of the blue as a gift.

My first deck...the Rider Waite Smith... was a gift from my parents when I was 11, because I was really interested in tarot, art and history. A match made in heaven...

My original Hanson-Roberts. My aunt had just bought it the week it came out and was looking through the cards for the first time, and...looking over her shoulder... I just absolutely fell in love with it. She handed it to me, and said "it's yours...It reminds me of you, and you will probably use it more than I will." Boy, was she ever right.

The Mythic Tarot. I was performing at a Renaissance faire, and met a wonderful gentle free spirited soul. We got to talking about different tarot cards, and other Great Mysteries, and he told me that the Mythic was the deck that he used. I told him that it was the one I was wishing for, and the next day he gifted it to me!(and it still, after decades, smells faintly like Patchoulli!)

Tarot of the Animal Lords...Dark Angel saw it on my wish list and surprised me by sending it to me! Thank you thank you Dark Angel! It is one of my absolute favorites now!

 

[Dark_angel]

I'm just glad you like it.

 

[Lady Eclipse]

Hi,

Here's my list:

Bargain: Servants of the Light, Millenium Tarot (Mary Susan Chamberlain, Ziba Vilmanis-Westernberg), Le Tarot Ambre, Tarocco delle Felicita, Ansata, & Blue Moon Tarot. All were FREE since they were gifts!

Other bargains: Pomo $5.00 at rummage sale, Omaggio a Erte $40.00, Tarot for Cats $9.00, Celtic Tarot (Giacinto Gaudenzi, Saverio Tenuta) $5.00, Tarot Universal Dali $25.00, Tarot de Gruyeres, $10.00, Fantasy Showcase Tarot $12.00, Greenwood $7.00, Tarocchi delle Stelle $5.00, & signed I Am One Tarot $5.00.

Bust: Pagan 2000. Pretty deck but the cards are a bit rough around the edges making them hard to shuffle. Margarete Petersen Tarot was a disappointment due to the minors not matching the majors. The majors are wonderful but the minors look hastily thrown together and too much alike. The Celtic Tarot (Julian de Burgh) was a big disappointment due to the cards being so flimsy so it's not a good reading deck. There are some other real stinkers but I'd rather not say since I know their creators belong to AT.

Best: The Quest, Voyager, Shapeshifter, Ananda, Gendron, Spiral, Celtic Dragon, Rock & Roll, Merry Day, Sacred Circle, Cosmic & Cosmic Tribe.

Joy to you,
Maralee

 

[Dexter]

I don't know i fI have found a real bargain yet but I am still looking.

My Best or one of, is the Celtic Wisdom Deck I love it.

Bust: The Robin Wood Deck try as I might I could not get a connection with it. So I have given it away to a good friend who right away loved it just by looking at the colours. She knew right away why I couldn't connect. She said the colours were to bright for me and she was absolutely correct. She is a very colourful person wears bright colours all the time. And she pointed out to me that I wear very muted colours and shades all the time. I am not attracted to bright colours at all they actually irritate me. So I have learned my lesson. I will now try and buy my new decks by looking through the cards first if possible and not just by other peoples recomendations.

Dexter