Green Box vs Blue Swiss Box

Dear, dear, dear, I knew there´d be no absolutes in this. Im no expert, and all I can say is based on the fact that I have a box with various editions of Thoths and can compare those, but no others!

RLG said:

It's interesting that you say the current green box and blue box decks are different. Are you comparing decks that both have the 1996 copyright on them, or is the date later?

I've seen some that are 1996 but have a grayish outer border on the back, while others are 1996 and have a whitish border. is there a chance that production of these diverted somewhere along the timeline after 1996?

Click to expand...

Both my Big US Games green box and Big Thoth Blue Box AG Muller must be post-1996. I bought them recently before stocks dwindled (as they seem to have done now.) I bought The US Games green box about this time last year and the AG Muller blue box is from - I think - January. It was from tarot chest and as the Thoth had been out of stock, Im assuming the one I got was replenished stock, i.e a new print run. As soon as I saw the Magus, I knew there was a difference in the richness of the colour. Cards feel flimsier, which you can really feel on the big cards.

RLG said:

Do we know for sure if the 2 large decks are both currently printed at the same factory in Belgium? I find it hard to believe there would be separate printings for the two boxes

Click to expand...

I think there are. I reckon it is like the RWS; you get an AG Muller deck with the little gold "made in Switzerland" sticker and it is in a US Games box. The Thoths are like this. Boxes are made for "theoretically" the same deck. Im inclined to go with gregory that it is merely a question of different print runs, and the inevitable inconsistancies and variations. I have an older AG Muller standard size one and can´t perceive any discernible difference between this and the purple box 3-Magus edition I have, in terms of richness of colour.

That page at Tarot Garden is indispensible. Funnily enough, you see there are blue boxes with the card image in the middle (Blue Box B) and more towards the corner (Blue Box A). I recently bought a Blue Box B deck (in Portuguese) in a Blue Box A BOX! .bugeyed: wow! So many combinations...

The Blue Box A is the one I have with three magus cards. Blue Box B hasn't the three - I asume it has a UCH - which the A doesn't have.... which is why - oh never mind; it just took me a LONG time to get a properly coloured one, which is why LeFanu has a strikingly sore thumb Ace Disks card.....

And yes, all we can do is compare the ones we have As YOU know, LeFanu, greenies vary hugely ; that also applies to all the others, I think. The colouring is so subtle that a slight variation in the print run will make a HUGE difference.

ETA - but if you look at the TG table - the difference in the colouring that you can maybe see THERE between the two blue boxes is the difference I see between MY large Muller and my USG ones... Mine is MUCH more - vibrant, if you like.

Is the extra clout on the USG stock perhaps due to their infamous lamination ?

Here is a comparison of all the decks http://www.tarotgarden.com/library/decks/thothtable.php

....as posted already above.....

Worth mentioning.

0=2

doesn't seem to make much of a difference now since most sources have dried up and some are saying the deck is out of print....

It is not OOP and certainly tarotchest has the blue box version in more than one size.

I also believe it was OOP but now the seem to have quite few brand new decks on Ebay. It is also in AGMULLERS latest catalogue (tarotworld.com) , I bought some large ones (AG Muller, from Ebay, new) they are a really good vivid print.

Perdurabo, what is the copyright year on the back of the cards you recently purchased?

Well the back of the box says, C 1944, 1962 OTO
But that is when the copyright was renewed not when the cards were made, there are no other dates on the box or the book. Im not really sure what is going on with these cards at the moment