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- Verified Buyer
Historically Important But A Little Messy:This deck is my travel deck, it lives in my purse and is the type of tarot deck I let anyone touch or play with and use it for readings on the fly; at the very reasonable prince of 14.99 this deck serves my purposes perfectly. I carry this deck around with me instead of one of the hundred of other Waite/Smiths I could carry because I love the bold, garish, psychedelic coloring. I’m a fan of anything psychedelic and late 60’s, and this deck gives me Peter Max Summer of Love Type Vibes.However, this deck is re-print of the long out-of print 1968 version of The Albano-Waite, and as such, looks a little bit like someone photocopied a photocopy.The art isn’t as sharp as I would like- there is some bleeding of the colors and blurred line work, which is a real real real shame as this deck used the “Pam A” line work which, in my opinion, is preferable to the other “Pam’s”.If you are a collector, I would recommend searching for a “real” version of this deck online, as I believe you will be disappointed in the card stock quality and the printing.If you are new to tarot this deck is uses Pamela Coleman Smith’s original line art but was recolored in 1968 by some guy named Frank Albano; if the coloring suits your taste and sensibilities this is an inexpensive deck that you could learn with in place of the Original Rider Waite Smith.The backs are white and feature a small blazing sun contained within a rectangle, but are non-reversible. The card stock is standard U.S. Games, and this deck comes in a utterly worthless tuck box.For Tarot Enthusiasts like myself: I have read tarot for almost 15 years. I’ve seen tons and tons of tarot decks, but none more so then variations on Pamela Cole Smiths original art. Her line work has been recolored, re-issued, spruced up, stripped down, blah, blah, blah. I love (and own!) a great number of those decks (Centennial Waite, Radiant-Wise Spirit Tarot, Universal Waite, etc,) this deck SCREAMS personality. There are bold purples, reds, midnight blacks, lime greens, mint greens, oranges, yellows. Temperance and the 10 of Cups are flanked by full color rainbows. These May not be for all but may be just right for you.Also, it was 14.99. There are decks three times that on this market place that are half baked at best.Last Thing: Frank Albano did not draw this art. From what I understand he recolored it and published this deck. When I talk about how much I love this deck I am speaking not just of Mr. Albano’s inspired re-coloring but also Pamela Coleman Smith’s timeless art.
