Best / favorite historical decks & reproductions

theEnigma

Forgive if this has already been discussed, did a quick search to no avail.

I'm looking at adding a few 'historical' decks to my collection and was wondering what you all consider to be your favorites?

I have a few on my short list, but curious as to your opinions.
Why? Accuracy of reproduction, readability, card stock? Why one version of a reproduction over another?

Thanks
 

Le Fanu

I could write a long posti n response to this and ramble on and on and repeat myself, because there are so many decks which I love, some not technically, authentically historical in that they have been restored etc etc.

But the one I keep coming back to is the Pierre Madenié. The sharpness of the reproduction, the richness of the colours, the cardstock, the size, the packaging.

Really, it is flawless.

Of course I love the ISIS but that feels like it's another category for me. I love so many others, but it is always the Madenié which calls above all others
 

VGimlet

Flornoy Noblet.

I like the colors, the card stock and everything else.
 

Richard

I don't really appreciate facsimiles. Sometimes technological advances are desirable, believe it or not, and printing is one of them. The older decks are not handmade in the same sense as a lovingly produced fine piece of furniture, not to mention paintings and sculpture. Old decks were mass produced by hand, but the hands were not generally those of artisans. I admit that the Pierre Madenié is better than most, but sloppy stencil coloring is still very much in evidence, and I don't have to put up with that if I don't want to.

Most of the modern restorations of historical decks are quite good, but the one which takes fullest advantage of modern printing technology is the ISIS restoration of the Conver. The images are quite accurate (except for the absence of hash mark shading) as one can see from the comparison images at the ISIS web site. The ISIS, in fact, is my all time favorite deck, and this includes all decks, not just the Marseille.

Another very nice deck promises to be the Millennium Edition, which is an original tarot based largely on the Pierre Madenié. So far only the trumps are available.
 

Yves Le Marseillais

Millennium Edition bound for 78 carts version in 2016 !

LRichard said:
I don't really appreciate facsimiles. Sometimes technological advances are desirable, believe it or not, and printing is one of them. The older decks are not handmade in the same sense as a lovingly produced fine piece of furniture, not to mention paintings and sculpture. Old decks were mass produced by hand, but the hands were not generally those of artisans. I admit that the Pierre Madenié is better than most, but sloppy stencil coloring is still very much in evidence, and I don't have to put up with that if I don't want to.

Most of the modern restorations of historical decks are quite good, but the one which takes fullest advantage of modern printing technology is the ISIS restoration of the Conver. The images are quite accurate (except for the absence of hash mark shading) as one can see from the comparison images at the ISIS web site. The ISIS, in fact, is my all time favorite deck, and this includes all decks, not just the Marseille.

Another very nice deck promises to be the Millennium Edition, which is an original tarot based largely on the Pierre Madenié. So far only the trumps are available.
Click to expand...

Bonsoir LRichard and all,

Millenium Edition from Wilfried Houdouin will be a full deck/78 cards for next year 2016. Summer if possible. You will see that it is really original and respectefull of old symbols and tradition.
I see progession of Wilfried on a weekly base and we discuss of his last discoverys and changes.

Salutations from Marseille City

Yves
 

cmarie

LRichard said:
...

Most of the modern restorations of historical decks are quite good, but the one which takes fullest advantage of modern printing technology is the ISIS restoration of the Conver. The images are quite accurate (except for the absence of hash mark shading) as one can see from the comparison images at the ISIS web site. The ISIS, in fact, is my all time favorite deck, and this includes all decks, not just the Marseille.

Another very nice deck promises to be the Millennium Edition, which is an original tarot based largely on the Pierre Madenié. So far only the trumps are available.
Click to expand...

I just looked over the Isis online and it is now going on my wish list! I really love the faces!
 

Fiver

No historical collection would be complete without a soprafino. The one by il meneghello is supurb. Also take a look at a piedmont.

For others you can't go wrong with any of the florney repros. I absolutely love his Dodal.

Best of luck!
 

dancing_moon

Piatnik TdM: large, heavily laminated cards; marvelous cream background with slightly faded colors; incomparable faces, and intriguing details. :thumbsup:

Tarot de Flamand: a fascinating deck with most cards being 'mirrored' as compared to a usual TdM, and many of the Majors are different too. Reads like a dream. :thumbsup:

Visconti-Sforza by Lo Scarabeo: a very beautiful reproduction, and a rather bad scan. In real life, everything that's dirty dark brownish in the scan is actually shiny golden leaf. And it reads like a dream (am I repeating myself? :rolleyes:). :thumbsup:

Minchiate Etruria: 97 cards of pure delight. :laugh: They're also slightly thinner and smaller than standard LoS decks, laminated, and so it's very easy to shuffle them. :thumbsup:
 

Richard

Yves Le Marseillais said:
Bonsoir LRichard and all,

Millenium Edition from Wilfried Houdouin will be a full deck/78 cards for next year 2016. Summer if possible. You will see that it is really original and respectefull of old symbols and tradition.
I see progession of Wilfried on a weekly base and we discuss of his last discoverys and changes.

Salutations from Marseille City

Yves
Click to expand...

Thank you for this information, Yves.
 

Richard

cmarie said:
I just looked over the Isis online and it is now going on my wish list! I really love the faces!
Click to expand...

The faces are priceless. I love this one especially: the way the strength woman is looking at the bee.
 

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