The Pamela Colman Smith Centennial Deck review thread

You've convinced me enough to get the set. I'll be reporting back when it arrives!

I have always hated the coloring of the original RWS, which is what always held me back from using it. But when I saw this version, I had to have it. Sure enough, I wasn't disappointed. Yes the quality of the art is not 100% crisp, but minor detail in my eyes compared to the great coloring and card stock used.

I got my deck yesterday and I'm just getting to know it. I like it but I'm going to need some time to get used to the size of the cards, the printing (pretty but different from the standard mini version I have) etc. I'm not sure if I'm just being overly neurotic but are your decks "bendy"? What I mean is that my deck is already starting to develop a bend meaning the cards are slightly convex if you look at them from the back. Not that bad really and I believe it has to do with the cardboard they used. I'm just glad it bends the right way, if it was the other way around it might irritate me a bit. I discovered this when I accidentally pushed the deck with my finger while shuffling and the whole deck sort of "snapped". Hard to explain but I hope you understand.

Now I only have to find a bag (I wish I could find a nice Mucha bag for my deck too) and decide which book to read first. I have 78 degrees and several others and for the first time, Waite's book but I'm way too excited about the deck to decide which book to concentrate on. I could of course read the book about Pamela first. It seems very interesting.

Edit: By 'bent' I mean of course a 'warped' deck. I just noticed the same warping is happening to the covers of both of the books in the set and even to the insert that used to be on the back of the box... I guess it has to do with paper "quality".

Oh dear, that's too bad about the warping. Mine has not warped at all, although I must confess I don't really use the deck except to look at for reference. As interesting as I find her work, I much prefer some of the newer decks.

I use it and this never happened

You're talking about the LoS one I assume...

Le Fanu said:

You're talking about the LoS one I assume...

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I THINK they are talking about the SET - as in USG. "Book about Pamela" was mentioned...

Yes, I did mean the Smith-Waite Centennial by US Games. I've noticed a weird thing today, the thing with warping seems to be related to humidity. I suppose the deck was packaged in a more humid environment than where I am right now. The temperatures have dropped well below freezing in the last couple of days and the humidity levels have dropped significantly. That causes many of my decks to warp into a slight "C". Today I wanted to test how the colours of the deck would look like in a very sharp light so I went to the bathroom to look at them underneath the lamps. The air humidity was much higher there and as I was shuffling lo and behold - my deck was suddenly much straighter than it used to be! I guess my SWC likes a bit of humidity. Good news indeed since I am intending to take it with me to Sydney.

gregory said:

I THINK they are talking about the SET - as in USG. "Book about Pamela" was mentioned...

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Misleading title to the thread; I thought it was the LoS so-called "Centenary" deck. The one we're talking about is the Commemorative set, no?

Funny, with that cardstock I cannot imagine it warping...

Le Fanu said:

Misleading title to the thread; I thought it was the LoS so-called "Centenary" deck. The one we're talking about is the Commemorative set, no?

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The deck in the USG set is called the "Smith-Waite Tarot Centennial Edition". Also, in the first post there are photos of the USG set, so I don't see how it could be misleading.

Felicity