The Box sets...

Sometimes I keep set boxes, and sometimes I don't.

I usually keep the USG set boxes, because they hold the decks and books so neatly, and don't take up extra space.

I usually dispose of the Llewellyn set boxes, because they are far too big and too flimsy. And those little cardboard inner boxes that they suggest you keep the decks in - those go right in the trash, every time.

St. Martin's Press usually produces very sturdy, nice outer set boxes, and so I almost always keep those, with the decks and books still tucked securely inside.

Now, as for those AGMuller (and other) sets that come in plastic "videocassette" style boxes - I keep the sets in their boxes for as long as the boxes hold up. When the plastic becomes brittle inside and the inner structure of the box begins to collapse, then I toss the box and put the deck in a bag.

And with other publishers it just depends on how big and bulky the packaging is, and how much (if any) value I think will be lost if I dispose of the box. For example, I still have all the packaging for my 1st edition of the Tarot of Prague, but it's folded flat in a big storage bin.

All in all, I've probably trashed as many set boxes as I've kept. I don't worry much about it . . . nor do I usually care if a deck that I buy used or acquire via a trade still has its box or not.

I have almost all my decks in either bags or boxes. I put the books in the tarot shelf in my bookcase.

I do keep the original wrappings in a drawer, just in case. Before I thought about trading or selling, I got rid of them. I guess if I ever want to trade a deck in the bag, I will include the bag since I don't have the box.

All of my sets are still in their boxes barring one or two that I separated before I started collecting cards.

I just love the whole package box and all but I have made my own boxes in the past, my Russel Grant's Astro Tarot cards are in a box I made... although it's looking a little shabby now.

I usually keep the kits together in case I ever should trade one item. Besides, I like to have things together.

As for my fav reading decks, they are housed in their box (as long as the box is in good shape) plus a bag or in a wooden box, the round Tealeaf oracle cards are kept in a round tea caddy...

I don't keep boxes. Space is at a premium here. I put the cards in bags, and keep the books in bookcases.

Being lucky enough to sew, I make individual bags for all mine, once I've had a good think about the right kind of fabric to do them justice - and you know what? They read better. My il Meneghello Tarocco Italiano just got a traditional bronze brocade with purple silk lining and gold cord, and it's soo happy. I've got a wonderful bag planned for my Secret Tarot - black velvet with olive lining, blood red ties and hand beading detail. I read with it last night and just couldn't get it, and I'm sure because of that crappy cardboard box it's still in. I always slip a few sage leaves in between the lining and the outer fabric as I go - just a little insurance! I'll keep the original book cover for the Tarroco Italiano, because it's such a work of art as a package, but the others are best separated from that cardboard as soon as possible..

WHen I first started collecting decks I discarded packaging and the extra introductory cards.

Eventually I stopped doing that, I stopped discarding packaging all together when I saw the high prices the Greenwood Tarot was going for (not that I'd ever be able to part with any of my decks, anyway, though). Packaging is also important to me bacause my collecting has taken a somewhat... academic turn, and it might be interesting down the line to see how publishers change presentation methods over time.

(edit) regarding packages--I was annoyed the other day when I lent someone a Marseilles to scan for a project, and she tore the box...not that it's a big deal, the deck is still in print, and it's the US games "Pseudo-marseilles" but it annoyed me nonetheless....I'm just glad I made sure to give her decks that were still in print.

Boxed In

About those boxed sets:

I'm really enjoying reading reactions to boxed sets; I hope folks at the major publishers are reading this thread and listening to what the Aeclectic community has to say on this issue.

The driving force behind the boxed sets are, of all things, the bookstore chains. Tarot decks are *notoriously* easy to steal because of their size; in most major bookstores, they rank as one of the most often stolen items. (The old wives' tale that says "Tarot decks should be given as gifts or stolen, but never purchased" doesn't help matters much.

So: the big chains put their foot down and said, "Decks must come in packaging that's harder to steal, or we won't carry them."

The solution? Boxed sets. It seems a shame to have all that space and not put *something* in there, so you'll see publishers (like Llewellyn, for example) including bigger deck-specific books (a great idea!), bags, and that big, blank cardboard box thingy.

As a deck designer, I wish the Bright Idea Deck were *also* available as a stand-alone set of cards ... but we had a hard enough time getting the chains to carry it as a boxed set! A stand-alone deck would never have been given shelf space.

I own a lot of boxed sets. I save the boxes, but place the decks in bags and put the books (if they're good books) on my Tarot bookcases.

I think I might have discarded the box for the first deck I ever got - an RWS that I believe came as a set with a book. I never did use the book. I don't have a bag for the RWS, but I did make a spreadcloth for it with raw silk that I keep them wrapped in, and the bundle is kept in a special box. I have kept them this way for the nearly 5 years I have had them and always been rewarded with great readings - so I guess the deck doesn't miss the box.

I do keep the boxes for all the subsequent decks I have acquired. Partly because I like keeping things together (throwing away the RWS box is out of character for me), and mostly because I am behind in making bags and cloths for them!

valeria

Tree Sprite said:

Being lucky enough to sew, I make individual bags for all mine, once I've had a good think about the right kind of fabric to do them justice - and you know what? They read better.

Click to expand...

Tree Sprite, remind me -- do you have a pattern for your bags that you'd be willing to share?

I seem to recall a conversation on here a little while back wherein folks were posting patterns, but maybe that was knitted bags?

I recently unearthed my sewing machine and I feel a spate of bag-makin' a-comin'.