Golden Tarot: Visconti-Sforza

Yahooooooeeeeeee! (Directed at Le Fanu and Gregory)Come back, Come Back.......
I am now completely lost.
Is This new reproduction called The New Golden Tarot (PMB VISCONTI)is the same size as my photo reproduction deck by Us Games of the Cary-Yale Visconti? (3.3/4 X 7.1/2 inches a Whooper)-
My other photo reproduction of the PMB is AG MULLER and that is 3 .1/2 by 7 inches aprox.This is the deck I use all the time.
I have some Major only Visconti 3.1/4 x 5.3/4 inches.(Lo Scaraboro)
I have the 78 repro deck by Lo Scarabeo which i have stopped using because it is too bling.
Online, I cannot find the size of this New Golden Visconti, that is why I am been such a pain in the Ass.
Please put your Bows and Arrows away- I come as a very Duh! poster on these tech matters.
~Rosanne

gregory says it's the same size as the US Games Visconti-Sforza, so it must be (is the Cary Yale bigger? I think it might be). I don't have either at hand and so cannot measure them.

If you watch the video linked in the other thread you will get a sense of the size;

http://tarottopics.com/content/review-golden-tarot

It's definitely bigger than the LoS Grand Trumps. I'm trying to picture an AG Muller Visconti...

Rosanne said:

Yahooooooeeeeeee! (Directed at Le Fanu and Gregory)Come back, Come Back.......
I am now completely lost.
Is This new reproduction called The New Golden Tarot (PMB VISCONTI)is the same size as my photo reproduction deck by Us Games of the Cary-Yale Visconti? (3.3/4 X 7.1/2 inches a Whooper)-
My other photo reproduction of the PMB is AG MULLER and that is 3 .1/2 by 7 inches aprox.This is the deck I use all the time.
I have some Major only Visconti 3.1/4 x 5.3/4 inches.(Lo Scaraboro)
I have the 78 repro deck by Lo Scarabeo which i have stopped using because it is too bling.
Online, I cannot find the size of this New Golden Visconti, that is why I am been such a pain in the Ass.
Please put your Bows and Arrows away- I come as a very Duh! poster on these tech matters.
~Rosanne

Click to expand...

These are NOT an exact repro, Rosy. They are very nice, but ARE reworked., I think - and as I put in the other thread - the four missing cards are different from any others I have seen.

And size - if that is the size of the USG ones I do have to recant a bit; I didn't actually get them out and they LOOKED the same size. These are 6.5 inches by 3.25. Good and big - but yes, a bit smaller than my Gutenberg USG Visconti which is 7 inches by 3.5 - and a LOT smaller than their Cary-Yale.

Thank you!
I am off to find the cards- as they are the perfect size!
AG Muller is a photo reproduction of the original deck worn and chipped, with details lost along with the gold.
The video was great for the detail.
~Rosanne

OT - but Rosy - it is great to see you

ON topic - glad to have been of service ! But they are NOT like a photo repro - lovely though I think they are. On the other hand - they are CHEAP !

But I do think the retouchings have been very sensitively done. You even get the occasional dodgy, wandering Marseille eye peering the wrong way.

I have to confess at first glance I thought it was a repro. It was only when I looked closer...

I remember now, the Cary Yale is impossibly big. I don't even try using it.

Oh I know - I think it's lovely. But if Rosy wants an EXACT repro, it isn't. It's DAMN well done, though. It wasn't till I was answering questions on the other thread that I realised.

Hi again, no, I am happy with a retouched deck, I can look for details on the photo reproduction that I use. I just feel I know the deck so well and to be truthful- the historic bits, I have done to death. This is not a moan, or a whinge, but really Historic detail is not really of interest to the most of Tarot enthusiasts; and to those it is, there is this tension, that becomes very boring after a while. I had my tail burned elsewhere, and really I had come to an end, as I had gone to Italy to follow the cards- so my historic dream and the Visconti was complete in my own eyes. Historic enthusiasm is forced by others into such a narrow beam- that as far as Tarot is concerned that knocks out the Human aspect. Like girls romancing 15th Century for instance- that is not in print or documents, so is not considered. So back I go to my roots- reading and personal enquiry into Historic detail, with the Romance intact. I was taught by an excellent teacher, that History is not boring- I refuse to be derailed on that.
~Rosanne

I probably have every version of the Visconti-Sforza deck in existence, and this is one of my favorites. USGames and Dal Negro photo-reproductions are actual size, the Golden deck is a bit smaller. But what's important, it keeps the original 2:1 ratio between height and width. The pips on many coins and cups cards are arranged to accommodate the extra length.

The cards are nicely cleaned up and very faithful to the originals. The gold is subtle but very rich. It's a joy to look at but impossible to shuffle. With decks that are too large or too precious to shuffle, I use surrogates. With this deck and my Mayer Sola Busca, I shuffle and deal cards with my Lo Scarabeo decks, then lay out the corresponding cards from the larger decks.

The background on the pip cards is a very lovely soft antique gold, not white as on the originals which may have been meant to imitate majolica pottery.

The first thing I look at is how the Tower, Devil and Knight of Coins are handled. I'm somewhat dismayed by this deck. The knight is very well done and looks like he belongs with the rest of the suit, which isn't the case in some other decks.

The Devil and Tower are TdM-ish. Why can't the artists do their homework and come up with less anachronistic designs? The Devil is rather lurid and owes a good deal to the USG Devil which I believe was done by Luigi Scapini.

The deck comes with a 143-page hardbound book with color illustrations of every card and lovely gold end papers. The history section is very readable, but gives the impression this deck is a product of the Renaissance classical revival, rather than being a product of medieval popular Christian culture. But this history geek has only minor quibbles with the deck and book. If you can only have one V-S deck, I would recommend considering this one.

I just got this set. Deck and book are very nice. For anyone wondering, the pip cards are given RWS meanings.