Decks worn with time

Le Fanu said:

Oh and here's my smoothed down Balbi, so shuffled that the colour has worn down to white.

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You inspired me to fish out mine. It hasn't really faded-to-white, but the cardstock is so thin it's translucent. When I threw some of the cards on the scanner, I didn't close it - and the light shone brightly. (I scanned a random book cover right afterwards, and no light was visible through it at all).

I think I've talked about this deck before - if I haven't, I should have. I was broke-broke-broke at the time, and had about $6.00 on me, and didn't think I should buy a bottle of water even though I was parched. I wandered into a second hand bookshop, and found this little gem for $16.00. Of course, I was never going to pay that (I couldn't, for a start), but I asked her if I could look at it. Thumbing through it, the cards were so worn, and so frail, and so translucent - and someone had written all over them! Moreover, they were so used after being written all over, that the writing was fading away!

My heart in my mouth, I pointed out that there was writing all over the cards. This was a huge selling-point to me, but she wasn't to know that. She dropped the price to $4.00, for a priceless gem with huge history.

The previous owner had her own dinky meanings for many of the cards - quite eccentric.

What I would love, would be for someone to genuinely recognise the handwriting!

Edited to add: my scanner must be fabulous! It has rejuvenated the cards and made them look far less worn. I suppose you really have to see this deck in the flesh to believe it. I might take it to the next Hornsby meet, if anyone else could be bothered coming <grin>.

nisaba said:

Edited to add: my scanner must be fabulous! It has rejuvenated the cards and made them look far less worn. I suppose you really have to see this deck in the flesh to believe it. I might take it to the next Hornsby meet, if anyone else could be bothered coming <grin>.

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Bit far for me On the cards showing the back you can see the writing from the other side of the card. WOW

I can't believe I missed this thread till now. This is amazing. The various decks that you have all posted have made me grin, giggle, long for and even jaw drop at one point. I can only hope that someday one of my decks looks like this. There is just something comforting about them. Makes them stronger. Great thread!

nisaba said:

The previous owner had her own dinky meanings for many of the cards - quite eccentric.

What I would love, would be for someone to genuinely recognise the handwriting!

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Amazing story! I really like that they are written on. I have an online acquaintance that does that and I am simply in love with all her card posts. : )

Perhaps this is material for another thread: Cards that have been written on.

The Mythic Tarot from 1980s

This is one of the decks worn with time from my collection. I looked closely today, and it is not that badly worn as such, but it has been certainly used a lot by the previous owner. It developed some kind of cushion in the deck. When shuffling it, I feel as if it is a pile of 20 dollar bills because it is so soft.

I use this deck often, and it tends to give very accurate readings. I feel good strong energy from this deck.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fsztinjxyr2p37d/20140729_210219.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7p98lcm71a02c9e/20140729_210311.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g827tku7k3r8or6/20140729_210256.jpg

OMG, I see a strange face staring at me from that Crystal ball in the last photo. I have never seen it before. Weird.

For me there is no special mojo in something just because I've had it a long time. More the opposite, old things make me feel like the walls are closing in. I threw out my old RWS deck from the eighties as it was old and dirty. I will probably never again use a deck into that condition since I now use many decks.

It´s one thing that they are old and used by one person (me), but when they become dirty and full of stains, no thank you!
I´m to afraid of germs!

all of these old, worn out decks look fantastic! I'm wondering which deck of mine I should try some experiments with...

Myrrha said:

For me there is no special mojo in something just because I've had it a long time. More the opposite, old things make me feel like the walls are closing in. I threw out my old RWS deck from the eighties as it was old and dirty. I will probably never again use a deck into that condition since I now use many decks.

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I'm quite the opposite. I think things well-used develop a sweet spot and a kind of soul. I feel that way about musical instruments. That said, I wish I could use the 1980s vintage RWS I started with as a teen, but the cards are so fuzzy edged with use, not to mention the likelihood of having been handled by hands sticky with soda and Doritos, they are impossible to shuffle.

For me, there is a great pleasure in opening new decks, and feeling the texture and seeing the fresh graphic images on clean new card stock. But there are also unstoppable pleasures handling old vintage decks used a lot and worn out - feeling the times gone by, looking into the shadows of time behind the deck.

The germs and bacterias on old decks doesn't bother me. Chances are there might be more germs and bacterias on computer keyboards, tea cups, toilet seats, steering wheels of cars and mobile phones … etc etc than old Tarot decks. Having plenty of hand soaps, keep washing hands religiously after handling all these should be a way of life, and everything should be fine.