Customer Reviews

Cary-Yale Visconti Tarocchi Deck

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These fabulous cards are lavish reproductions of museum-held artworks. A detailed booklet comes with them, with photos of each card, giving the names of the cards, for those who use the cards to read tarot. They are just as wonderful to have as artwork, and as a faithful reproduction, they are not labeled on each card. The size of the cards, and proportions of the cards, are also determined by the fact that they are reproductions. The deep, royal colors (golds, reds, browns, greens) reflect the choices of the fifteenth century artist who made them. These are rich, fascinating cards, rather mysterious, and one of my 2 favorite decks (the other being the Visconti-Sforza deck, of the same era, and originally made for the same family of Italian nobility).

The Cary-Yale Visconti tarot deck is among the most striking and beautiful of all the family of Visconti decks available. At 3.75" x 7.5" the deck is huge with a solid ivory backing and an informative booklet.

No one is really sure who the original artist was but scholars suspect that a local artist named Bonifacio Bembo (circa 1420) was responsible for the surviving decks. History says that he was a Cremonese artist employed by the Sforza family, one of the leading royal families of the time. It is commonly believed that several of the original decks were in fact wedding presents to honor the union of the Visconti and Sforza royal houses.

From the back of the box: "Complete deck of 86 cards comprises 22 Major Arcana & 64 Minor Arcana, reproduced in magnificent color. Facsimile reproduction of 67 tarocchi cards from the Cary Collection of Playing Cards at The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Additional 19 cards recreated to replace cards presumed missing from the original deck. The deck is unique in that each suit contains both male and female knights and pages in addition to king and queen". It is due to these extra male and female cards that the usual count of 78 rises to 86.

This deck is for serious collectors. The very large size does not lend itself to shuffling or spreading the cards. Other than the stunning Renaissance art, the face of the cards are otherwise unmarked. There are no numbers, no labels, and no descriptions. This would make it difficult to use the cards for readings or divination (If you are interested in that sort of application). The original cards are in very poor condition and even though the reproductions are excellent it's often hard to see details without strong light and sometimes a magnifying glass.

As a modest collector, I feel fortunate to have the Cary-Yale deck in my collection. I have other Visconti-Sforza decks and other Renaissance decks, but Cary-Yale is indeed the most impressive.

Okay, first off, I hate to say anything negative about Tarot cards because I am a major Tarot enthusiast. I must admit though that when I removed this deck from it's box for the first time my heart sank a little from disappointment. From all of the photos I had viewed online, I had expected the cards to have a textured feel to them [similar to the Visconti Tarot]. They were completely smooth. The back is just plain yellow[yawn]. I had hoped more care would've been taken into making the cards truly look and feel as close to the "real thing" as possible. Instead it's like owning photographs of the cards. Don't get me wrong--the imagery is extremely fascinating, especially for the Tarot enthusiast. I knew the cards were gonna be huge--that's fine because I hadn't planned to read with these anyway. They are more of a collector's item than a functioning deck.

Bottom line: If you are a Tarot collector [like me] and you're looking for a sizeable deck, this is the one to buy. If historical look AND feel is more your cup o' tea, buy Lo Scarabeo's "Viconti" Tarot. The gold embellishment is breath-taking and the texture makes it actually feel historical.

This is a very interesting deck, which I like a lot, especially as a reference with which to compare other decks. I'm happy I bought the deck - I use it alot.

But there are a few things I dont like about it :

1. Some of the details are coloured in such a way to make them somewhat hard to distinguish from the background.

2. The cards dont have their names on them. I wish the names were added on a white boundary, making it easier to recognize.

3. Just a warning to those who want to spread with the cards - their somewhat large and not very easy to shuffle.

The first thing I noticed was that the borders around every card are grey. It's like a pale, dingy grey. Like the color of a utility truck. It matches nothing in the cards at all and it makes the cards rather unappealing. The second thing that I did not like was the cream color they used for the backs of all the cards. It's just one solid color that again does not match the cards and I found the color choice quite confusing.

Also this deck isn't really a "playing" deck. It's too big to do much with.

I looked forward to receiving this deck, but it turned out to be a miserable edition... The cards are huge - why so huge??? The quality of reproductions is poor, soapy. It is a great pity that the edition that could have been simply breathtaking was carried out with such ineptness. The ugly grey border and the wretched back of the cards are better not to mention at all. I will keep this deck for reference, but I'll be awaiting a new, proper edition. ... (a deep sigh)...

What can I say? These are the real thing. Tarot does not get more authentic than this. I have used other modern decks to some success, but I'm a basics kind of guy and this is a basic as you can get

I knew that I was not going to be fully pleased with getting this item right from the start. I have seen the look of the cards before buying them, but I bought the deck anyway because I'm a fanatical collector of the visconti reproductions.

This 86 deck is great, the size.. however is too big.. too large.. even larger than the Visconti Pierpont Morgan Deck.
I also wished that the publisher had made more effort to creating a back design for the cards, since it's just plain yellow.
I can stand the lack of labels of the card... it makes them look more authentic I believe... but I can easily distinguish the modern reproduced cards from the authentic ones... the painting and color is so easily discernable, you could tell even by far looking at it.
This all makes me conclude for the artistic reproduces that if there is a deck and some cards are missing, make SURE to reproduce the cards in the same style as the other authentic cards!!! It's so dissapointing to see two types of look and easily remember that they some cards didn't look authentic at all!