Smith-Waite Centennial deck is THE definitive RWS -- a must-have!

gregory

I'm with Gregory on every point here. I'd been through a couple of versions of the RWS over the years and the Commemorative is my absolute favorite (have a couple of standard size and two in tins). As much as I love a few other decks - this is also my "go to"..... love it, love it, love it...
Michael
Excuse me - please name the OP in full when referencing.

gregory1956 started this thread.

gregory - which is me :angel: - does not actually entirely agree with the premiss of this thread and would not want anyone to think I did. I love the deck - but it isn't a must-have, for me !
 

McFaire

I love it. It's beautiful and feels great in the hand. I have the commemorative set and the tin. I enjoy the antique styling. I'm not planning on investing in an old Pamela Smith deck any time soon, so this is as close as I'm going to get for now.

The backs are very pretty too. Many of the PCS decks have hideous backs.
 

Calcifer

"Excuse me - please name the OP in full when referencing."
Sorry !
Oops... just woke up. Didn't catch that.... my mistake (pre-coffee)!
Ouch !

Michael
 

Abrac

The Smith-Waite Centennial is a joke. An obvious attempt by U$ Games to cash in on a trend in the market. They have every right to do so, but the deck has to be evaluated with this in mind.
 

velvetina

Of all the RWS options easily available, this is my favourite. I should stress "easily" as my favourite is the no-US Games deck, published by Rider, but that's not so available nor affordable.

I love the cardstock, and I don't mind the colours...to me, it's so much more attractive than the Golden, Radiant, Universal, Albano, Original and so forth.

I don't like the choice of back design. seems like a lost opportunity for something lovelier. And it goes without saying that I don't like the copyright.....I mean, when you buy a print of a favourite painting it doesn't have a copyright on it does it? Or if it did, I'm sure buyers would object strongly!
 

Desecrated

Sooo, are the cards in the tin bigger then the one in the box set???
 

thorhammer

The Smith-Waite Centennial is a joke. An obvious attempt by U$ Games to cash in on a trend in the market. They have every right to do so, but the deck has to be evaluated with this in mind.

While I agree completely that the motivation behind the creation of this deck is just as you say, I disagree that evaluation of the deck must be coloured by this (let's face it, cynical) standpoint. In fact, I reacted the opposite way when I got mine - I was overjoyed that for once, for the first time I could identify, a trend in the market had produced exactly the right amount of leverage, in just the right places, to pressure the creation of a really standout item. And not just that, but it was priced such that it was accessible to everybody!

There are a few niggling disappointments with this deck, as noted above (the lack of a dot in the signature being the biggest), but on the whole the way this item ended up is an absolute triumph. I have the box set with postcards and book, and I remember thinking upon opening it that someone fought bloody hard to get this out with such a high level of quality production, with so much extra material, and with such a stunningly beautiful deck to boot.

Tiny problems, yes. Nevertheless, a masterwork of commercial trick-taking, and a truly beautiful thing. I don't think I'd apply the words "must-have" or more especially "definitive" to any Tarot deck (except perhaps the Thoth, but that's another discussion)...but it's a wonderful thing I'm grateful and glad to have in my collection.
 

Abrac

Whether or not I'm a cynic is irrelevant, but nice try. If you like yours I'm happy for you. My position's unchanged. :)
 

Barleywine

Interesting discussion. I'll probably get it at some point, but I'm not a huge RWS fan and am perfectly happy with my Albano, and to a slightly lesser extent, my Radiant. A faithful reproduction of the original (if that ever comes to pass) would be of interest to me.