Visconti Sforza - Seeing the Money in Trump #1

Seeing the Money in Trump #1

You will need

1. Good light.
2. The U.S. Games reproduction of the Visconti-Sforza deck
3. A magnifier

For magnifier I am using the Bausch & Lomb reader that came with the two-volume edition of the OED.

To see the money in the so-called Magician card, invert the card and practice with the magnifier to achieve the best clear magnification. Next, focus on the edge of the silvery pile under the right hand of the man. It will appear jagged, representing (I think) shadows in the gaps between coin. Then move inward slightly toward the center of the pile, and let the eye move clockwise around the clear silvery track. You will distinctly see that the track is a made of large silver coins with clear round edges. Once you see some of the coins, other follow easily.

The trick is to view the card inverted.

cc

Here's the image. You can blow it up when you open the file.

Debra said:

Here's the image. You can blow it up when you open the file.

Click to expand...

Thank you, Debra. I already have the image in Windows Photo Gallery, and although the outlines of the coins in the inverted picture are visible under computer magnification, the U.S. Games reproduction that Santa brought me is clearer. I failed to recognize the coins in my attempts with a computer image.

cc

Hi creakingcricket

Any chance you could post the section already magnified?

Moonbow* said:

Any chance you could post the post the section already magnified?

Click to expand...

Moonbow, I don't have the equipment to photograph a magnified image, and even if I could, the results might be unsatisfactory because every transformation of an image causes addition loss of visual information. The shadowing that defines individual coins is faint and would be easily lost. It's too bad it can't be put on the Internet, because the U.S. Games photo-reproduction deck is best for study and not use and seems to be rarely owned.

I'd like to point out a specific case of how limited computer images are. Consider the Hanged Man

http://www.a.trionfi.eu/WWPCM/decks05/d02046/d0204612.jpg

The Hanged Man is marked by streaks of bright red blood. At least fourteen streaks are visible on the card. In the computer image the red is a much duller color, and that on the man's right shoulder is mostly lost. Computer images aren't adequate for fine detail.

cc

Hogwash.

If you can see it on your copy, you should be able to scan it in and others should be able to see it. The scan you link to is a lousy scan. A good scan of the card you are looking at should be able to convey what you are seeing.

I have the US Games VS. If you would like, I'll be happy to scan an area that you are looking at.

There's also this scan online if you can see it here?

Here's the 'pile' or whatever it is - it looks so like a straw hat!
Rightside up and upsidedown.

Thanks Robert

I agree, a bad resolution scan would give bad re-copies but it is possible to scan an area accurately, and doing so would help the discussion

Mine is the Il Meneghello version of the deck and it has pretty clear detail, I'm not seeing coins at this stage but its an interesting idea.

I did what you suggested with the FMR article reproduction (the best repro I've seen) and the supposed "edges" are clear - however, if they were coins, it would make this a round stack made up of several layers of coins with each one standing on its edge. Rather an impossibility, I would think.

Mary

le pendu said:

I have the US Games VS. If you would like, I'll be happy to scan an area that you are looking at.

Click to expand...

What I would like, Le pendu, is for you to do as I said, under good light and with a magnifier view the inverted card. What one sees depends in part on what one expects to see. Habits of perception are easily formed and hard to break. Inversion breaks conditioned habits. Once you see the coins gestalt, then, yes, you can see coins with a computer scan in the upright card.

Lest you think I am hallucinating, my sister, brother-in-law, and niece (who gave me the cards for Christmas) were easily able to see the coins. They had not been conditioned to see it otherwise (cake, dish, hat, etc.)

cc