Taking care of vintage decks

Aster Breo

(I'm really not sure where to post this, so I hope a mod will move it if there's a better place. Thank you!)

My husband just gave me a vintage deck of "gypsy fortune-telling cards" for my anniversary gift!

It's similar, though not identical, to Lenormand, and appears to be an original, unused deck. (My favorite non-Lenormand cards are the Fairy and the Bacchanalian.)

There's no box, but there's an instruction sheet (English on one side, and Polish, I think, on the other) that credits "Mme. Le Normand", and lists the United Novelty Company, Chicago. No date, but my husband says the listing he purchased it from said it was from the 1940s, which the art supports.

The cards are plain cardstock, no lamination or anything. The backs are a very simple red of tiny diamonds -- gives the impression of pink. They're in remarkable condition. I don't think they've ever been used. Despite what it looks like in the pic, only 1 card is slightly discolored -- the one that was on top. (This is just a quick pic I took to post here, and the lighting is uneven.)

I'm going to scan the instruction sheet, which is fragile and tearing at the folds, as well as the cards.

I'm wondering about the best way to store this deck to take the best possible care of it. Can anyone give suggestions about that or point me to resources on storing vintage cards?

Also, if anyone knows anything about this deck, I'd love to learn about it. I'd also LOVE to actually read with this deck! :-D

Thanks for any help!

~ Aster uploadfromtaptalk1447386618367.jpg
 

reall

don't wan't to sound pesimistic here, but plain white paper and non rounded edges usually mean someone printed it!:)) but that are just my 2cent let it check by someone who know more about *vintage cards!^^ lolz ;))
 

Aster Breo

reall said:
don't wan't to sound pesimistic here, but plain white paper and non rounded edges usually mean someone printed it!:)) but that are just my 2cent let it check by someone who know more about *vintage cards!^^ lolz ;))
Click to expand...

No, I don't think that's the case here.

While you can't see much from the pic, they're clearly quite old, and the discoloration on the front of the card that was on top and on the back of the card that was on the bottom is consistent with aging. And they weren't hand cut.

I think they were inexpensive cards of the type mass produced in the US in the 30s and 40s. I've seen other kinds of vintage decks (games -- not "fortune telling cards") on the same type of stock and with similar age discoloration.

Also, my husband checked out the dealer and was satisfied they're legit. The dealer said they bought a bunch of these decks from the novelty company when it went out of business. The decks had just been sitting in storage, probably because they didn't sell well, which is why they're unused.

I'm not an expert, and of course they could be faked, but I don't think so. They weren't expensive, and it's not a popular deck. It would make more sense to fake a more popular deck and sell it at a higher price.
 

Teheuti

I just wrote a post about this deck, which I've had in the Addison Products, edition. I became obsessed with knowing more, so I wrote this article on how the Old Gypsy Fortune Telling Card Game is a curiously American mix of Jewish immigrant culture and hoodoo, produced (probably) by a man who became the foremost collector in the U.S. of 19th and early 20th century art.

https://marygreer.wordpress.com/201...ards-an-american-jewish-immigranthoodoo-deck/
 

Aster Breo

Teheuti said:
I just wrote a post about this deck,
Click to expand...

This is really fascinating! Thank you for digging into this. It's so cool to learn more about the background of my deck!!
 

1Eleven

Cool deck and info - thank you both for sharing.
 

gregory

Thanks :) I have often vaguely wondered about it.
 

Aster Breo

Teheuti (or anyone else who knows), do you know of anything that compares the various Lenormand-related decks to show the similarities and differences in their symbols, the meanings, and the playing card insets?

I'm thinking of a table of some kind that lists each deck by card and meaning -- so it would be easy to see which decks include a Cat card, for example, what the Cat means in each deck, and which playing card it's associated with.

A table like this might also be able to show how some symbols evolved over time -- like the Sickness card in one deck might take the place of the Coffin card in another; or the Train card might take the place of the Ship, etc.
 
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