Visconti Reproductions (merged threads)

What do you all think of the Visconti Sforza?

I'm considering buying the Visconti Sfoza Piermont Morgan Tarrochi Deck as my next purchase. Since I've acquired the 3 encyclopedias of tarot I find myself more and more attracted to the Visconti Sforza. I like the idea that it is the most complete deck from the 1500's and I feel like I'd be owning a small piece of history. I'm not to crazy about pips but know what they mean enough that I could read from them. I don't mind oversized decks and this one shows off the cards nicely. Does anyone own this deck and what do you think of it?
Blessings,
Momof3girls

I have this deck!

Hi there!

I have this deck and I rather like it, basically for the "historical-ness of it." However I found the large size and the pips a bit disconcerting for reading so it ended up on my "shelf." But I remain fascinated by the images....

Then I found the smaller "gold " version which came with a book (by Lo Scarabo) which is much more mangeable in my hands and the colors a bit brighter....I took a black marker to cover up the keywords down the side (they annoyed me). The art on the "missing" cards is different from the larger deck and the flashy "gold" took some getting used to but I'm glad I got it. I would recommend either version if you like this deck..
delizt

Hi Delizt,
I have seen the Visconti Gold and I do not like the way they have redone the devil card. It just doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the deck to me. I much like the devil in the Visconti Sforza better as it looks more medievalish. I do not mind large cards as I have the Rhorig and Inner Child decks and find I can shuffle them using the side to side method. I do like the Visconti Sforza for it's historical contributions though even though like you said it may not be one that is used often.
Blessings,
Momof3girls

I agree with delizt, I much prefer the Visconti Gold deck to the big USGames one. In the big one, the missing cards were recreated by Luigi Scapini, and I don't much like his work and I don't think it meshes well with the rest of the deck. In the Visconti Gold, it's not a historical reproduction, but a recreation showing the cards as they might have looked when they were created, with bright colors and no wear. There's two versions of the Gold deck available, one that comes as just a deck and one that comes in a deck/book set. I prefer the one that comes separately; the one in the set has slightly bigger cards but I think they got carried away with the gold. And the Devil and Death cards were redone, but I like them better in the smaller version.

The smaller size of the Visconti Gold cards makes them much more manageable to read with than the big USGames deck. The Gold deck doesn't actually have keywords, just the titles of the cards in different languages. I don't even notice them anymore, they're very unobtrusive.

-- Lee

I ordered it!

Well I went ahead and ordered the Visconti Sforza deck. I'll let you know what I think of it when it arrives.
Blessings,
Momof3girls

One of the beauties of the Visconti-Sforza is precisely its large size - which reproduces, I am lead to believe, the size of the originals.

Over the past months, as I relook carefully at the cards, I doubt more and more that the XV and XVI cards are 'missing', and tend to consider that they were just not part of the deck at all (making the Visconti-Sforza not a Tarot, but a Tarot relative, with only 20 Major Arcana cards).

Personally, though I like Scapini's other works, I agree with Lee that those two cards he created just don't quite mesh with the rest of the deck...

Anyhow, great purchase, and please do comment on the deck after you get it.

I love this deck: Not for reading or anything like that, but for looking at, studying, playing tarocchi with (Cuz that's what the deck was made for, or a wedding, or something...) and, like JMD, theorizing about it...

Actually, I didn't realise that the Devil and a couple of other cards had been redone by Scapini til I read th eboklet that came withthe deck!

DOH!

Kiama

my completely biased opinion...

YEAH, VISCONTI!
i love this deck!
it is my "main" deck...
i have three versions of the visconti gold deck, but not the large one. i use the small U. S. Games edition, published about five years ago.
this deck, as far as i am concerned, can do no wrong.

I have seen (and didn't care for) the Devil and Tower cards from the first edition of the Visconti Gold, but not the versions from the new book and deck set. Does anyone know where I can see pictures online?

There are many different reproductions of this deck, each with a different interpretation of the Devil and Tower. I agree, though, that these cards were probably just not included in the original deck.

Felicity

My deck arrived!

Yippeee! My Visconti Sforza arrived in today's mail and I have to say "it's beautiful". Way better in person than in the pictures. I love it.
Blessings,
Momof3girls