1968 Albano Waite with Gold Foil Lion?

The crowned one said:

I am almost certain the lion is not original. I would ask myself what is the symbolic significance of including the lion from the publisher or artists perspective, if you can not find one and no one else has ever gotten one in their deck then you are either going to tour Willy wonka's chocolate factory, or some one just put it in the deck

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The symbolic significance of a lion in the Albano Waite deck?!

Strength, The World, Queen & King of Wands, 2 of cups...

I know I'm missing more!



I love the idea of a golden Albano ticket! Get the gold lion meet Frankie!

Which brings me to the who in the heck this Frankie character was! I think it's interesting that there was an Albano's Pizzeria for years in a location close to the Melrose Ave address on the original Tarot Productions box. Perhaps a coincidence but a funny thought crossed my mind. "Do the owners know a guy who made a tarot deck?"

On the inside of the top flap there is a stamp that says:

Metaphysical Town-Hall
Book Shop -2nd FLOOR
435 Powell ST. - S.F., Calif. 94102
Tel. DOuglas 2-8571

I'm not sure if this information adds to the discussion or not. Perhaps they added the foil lion? Anyone know of this place?

Alright, so I sent an email to the Amazon Seller asking her if she knew anything about this gold foil lion.

I'd be looking for an email to go with that bookshop's name and address, myself. They'd have more of an idea than an amazon seller who might just be clearing out her late Aunt's dresser.

nisaba said:

I'd be looking for an email to go with that bookshop's name and address, myself. They'd have more of an idea than an amazon seller who might just be clearing out her late Aunt's dresser.

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Good point but I thought I would still contact the seller just in case. I will look into the Metaphysical Town-Hall. Thanks for the suggestion!

ladybird said:

Alright, so I sent an email to the Amazon Seller asking her if she knew anything about this gold foil lion.

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I heard back from the AmazonSeller and she said she purchased them at an occult thrift shop. She remembered reading something about the foil lion but didn't remember the details.

Eta. Doesn't help much but she said she read something somewhere. I couldn't find anything online.

I have been unable to track down the Metaphysical Town-Hall in San Francisco. It seems that it is no longer around.

I realize that I may just be grasping at straws here but it really feels to me like this gold foil lion came with the deck. The lion "fits" so well with the deck.

I tried the Tarot Anon. facebook group and someone thought that there might be a connection especially with the gold sun on the backs. Interesting, I never thought of that. You know, Leo ruling the Sun and all.

Who knows, I may never know! I'm just hoping that there's some collector out there who would remember or know something. I even contacted Mr. Stuart Kaplan! He may not know or say anything since he had nothing to do with the Tarot Productions printing but I hoped since he had such a vast collection of tarot decks that he may know something.

Perhaps you're right, The Crowned One, if they had released a gold foil lion, wouldn't we have known about it?!

ladybird said:

Which brings me to the who in the heck this Frankie character was!

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<with utterly straight face> Ladybird, in the absence of the Gold Lion, now that you are a Big Girl, it's time that you found out who Frankie is.

And you may be interested in The Further Adventures of Frankie.

I have "The Son of Frankie" sitting in a specially made Frankie-bag, in my collection.

I'd love to see the World Tarot Day / World Towel Day Spread done with Frankie! Hey, come the 25th, that may well be my mission. If I remember.

Whoops wrong Frankie

nisaba said:

<with utterly straight face> Ladybird, in the absence of the Gold Lion, now that you are a Big Girl, it's time that you found out who Frankie is.

And you may be interested in The Further Adventures of Frankie.

I have "The Son of Frankie" sitting in a specially made Frankie-bag, in my collection.

I'd love to see the World Tarot Day / World Towel Day Spread done with Frankie! Hey, come the 25th, that may well be my mission. If I remember.

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Nisaba, nice way to revive the Frankie thread, but, that's the wrong one, Ladybird wants to find out more about Frankie Albano. ;-)