Did you ever really need that back up?

Le Fanu said:

Another thing with back-ups is not that the original might wear out, but that it might be a good idea to have one at each "base". Thus the risk of losing it *on the way* to one of your bases, is significantly reduced. I have thought like this ever since I heard that story of the member here who was on the subway and someone tripped up in front of them with a can of fizzy drink and poured the lot into her bag and onto her deck...

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This is what my "back-ups" are really for, I call these "doubles" as they are necessary decks and not just sitting on a shelf looking pretty

I understand your point there Le Fanu For myself, I'm a new collector, and my measly 30 decks (not counting my spare Gildeds) aren't any where near being the sum of my collection desire

So yeah, I do have 3 copies of the Gilded. One I ruined by attempting to blacken in the heavily chipping edges with permanent marker -- it bleeds marker to this day when I use it. But I keep it anyway. One I riffle shuffle, and even though I've only used that deck 4 months, it looks like it's been through a war zone - the Gilded is NOT printed for longevity, methinks! But riffling is soothing to me, and I'm in a turmoil at this stage...then I have one that I got to NEVER be riffled, to be swirled around on a desk and cards chosen in that manner.. I actually feel like I need a backup of this deck yet. LOL

Then I had two Shadowscapes, (not counting the special edition which I admit is COLLECTION only) but traded one to TCO because he seemed so excited and thrilled about getting it. I was hesitant at first, because THIS deck also doesn't seem to be very sturdy -- when I hand-over-hand shuffle(which I'm not very good at) I sometimes ding the edges against each other and its edges are starting to split. So I'll be getting another backup. (I probably need to only swirl this deck too...) But when TCO seemed so excited, I asked my deck, Should I trade the spare to TCO...and got the 10 of Cups. That settled it! Off it went to find it's happiness

So, only one deck with backups at the moment, my Gilded. However I'm USING the backup (kinda..I am IDS'ing another deck now but if I weren't I'd be using it at least part time) so I need backup of the Gilded, plus one Collection deck. And if I decide to use any of my collection decks, then I need to get another collection one, at least...depending on how they wear as to whether I feel I need a backup.

Maybe I'm just hard on my cards..I TRY to treat them well (except my riffle deck which I know is just MEAN to them...) but either I've chosen particularly weak cardstocked decks, OR I'm gonna need a whole lot of backups, because they're not lasting... Maybe it's the laminate not really covering the edges so when I ding the card doing the hand-over-hand thing, they start to split...honestly I'm being careful too!

So to answer the question -- yes, I feel backups are necessary, at least one or ten of them...

~Yira

faunabay said:

Wow!! You have a backup for the limited edition Gaian!?? I'd love to have the money to do that....I just got that deck and love it to bits!! But my backup for that will have to be the mass market when it comes out. I had to raise money by selling some of my other decks just to buy the first! LOL

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Believe me, I agonized over that decision. And I had to sacrifice other stuff I needed for that purchase. My Hubby kept pushing me to do it - HE understands the need for security. So, I took the plunge and no regrets!

I usually try to get a backup of a deck before (or right after) I trim it; for the Mythic and the Spiral, for instance.

But I don't always get around to it (or finances don't permit it) and sometimes (often) I end up trading/giving the backup away as well.
It's like I want the security of a backup deck, but then when I have it, I find I don't need it.

I often use trimmed versions for larger spreads and carrying around in my bag, and the untrimmed ones for laying out daily card draws/spreads.
(that way I can have a spread laid out to ponder, and still use the deck, or take it with me)


I also have a few backups of favorite reading decks that are out of print (and that I could find cheaply); the Mythic, the Fantastic Menagerie, and one or two more that I can't recall off the top of my head.
These are kept at my mother's house, inside a tin; should my house burn down or something, I'll have a small reading collection to start from again.

I try not to do it for decks that are still in print / easily available; I figure I could just buy those with the insurance money...

So what do you do if one of your very, very favourite, most used decks is OOP and increasingly HTF and you find a stash of them for $10 each.

How many would you buy? How many is too many?

(this was why I started this thread!)

Buy em. ALL of them! Then decide how many you want for backup, and either gift or trade the other ones to people you think would appreciate them Or sell, I suppose -- they are, after all, an item with monetary value, and I believe none of us are so rich as to not be okay with a little more money...

~Yira

yirabeth said:

Buy em. ALL of them! Then decide how many you want for backup

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Ok.. so... how many is a reasonable number of back-ups? Three? Five? Ten? You tell me

Le Fanu said:

So what do you do if one of your very, very favourite, most used decks is OOP and increasingly HTF and you find a stash of them for $10 each.

How many would you buy?

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One for myself, to have a spare, and then however many I might want to use for trades or gifts.

*glances wistfully toward Lisbon with big "show me you love me" puppy-dog eyes*

Le Fanu said:

Ok.. so... how many is a reasonable number of back-ups? Three? Five? Ten? You tell me

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There'd be a number of factors I'd figure into how many backups --

1. OOP?
2. Frequency of use?
3. Quality of print
4. Quality of cardstock
5. Type of lamination

If, like my Gilded, the cards wore easily, and were OOP/HTF, AND!! Were an all time favorite, I'd consider keeping them all *shrug* They'll only last so long..if I can wear a deck out in 4 months with daily shuffling (picture here ) then perhaps I'd NEED those. (that's only 4 months of daily use, people...yes, ONLY those cards as I was IDS'ing, but 4 months nonetheless...)

But, if they had the lamination of the USGames decks, and thick heavy durable cardstock, I would probably keep one for spare, one for collection -- you could do away with the collection one if your collection is only decks you actually use. So a total of 2-3 of that type.

If it's one you rarely use (once a month? or less?) then I'd say I have to decide that on quality vs. frequency of use, and add decks for backup depending on that. In a deck I might use once a year, I'd have that deck, plus the collection copy. I'd actually figure out average lifespan of a used deck vs. how many years I plan on reading tarot...(I'm gonna live to be 100, I've already decided) Then again, I'm set in my ways. I rarely change my mind or decide I no longer like something. YMMV

Also, I kinda consider my collection to be separate from my reading set...

~Yira

ETA - #5 is important too so added it in.

Le Fanu said:

I have many back-ups. Please don't make me list them...

.

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But this was your idea LOL