What deck have you had the longest?

[GreatDane]

For me, it's the Universal Waite I got about 13 years ago in a trade on AT.  I traded an edition of the Bohemian Gothic (remember the printing that some decks had red spots?  I got TWO of them) for a Universal Waite deck, the one that was printed in Belgium.  It was used, but in good shape.  I LOVE the Bohemian Gothic, I now have a first edtion and would never trade it.  BUT the one actual deck I've had the longest, UNI WAITE.  

 

I had decks before that, but they were traded away.

[Misterei]

Probably my Ciro Marchetti Legacy of the Divine or my Thoth deck.

The Marchetti deck got so ragged from use ... I trimmed it and made it borderless ... which breathed new life into it.

The Thoth deck I seldom read with ... so it's survived for many years.

Otherwise I don't have old decks. Back in the day I would just burn decks that got ragged and buy a replacement.

Then I started collecting and all of them are in good condition b/c none get hard daily use like in the past.

I have backups of decks I use professionally  (i.e. 3 different RWS instead of only 1)... so they don't get worn-out.

I have universal waite mini in the box. I seldom read with it but I use it for teaching ... it's a loaner if a student forgot or whatnot.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Misterei

[gregory]

See under "your first deck" I still have my 1JJ. A first is always special.

[DanielJUK]

Mine is my RWS I got when I was 13. It's very special to me! The box fell apart years ago and so it has a silk cloth wrap and it's battered and creased and aged.

I keep thinking don't use it, keep it for special readings but then I use it for others and myself. I think it always gives reliable readings and I have a special connection with it

[Emily]

The deck that I've had for the longest was the 1JJ Swiss, my first deck acquired in 1980, I think.  I never really appreciated it but I do still have it and also the book by Stuart Kaplan that went with it.

 

[AnomalyTempest]

The deck I've had longest is my Golden Universal. It was given to me by a neighbor whose wife had bought it for him for his birthday but he felt it was bad luck and for some reason gave it to me. That was about 10 years ago and was my start to learning tarot again. I had had a deck once long before when I was young, but have no idea what happened to it or why I had stopped reading.

[GreatDane]

Oh I thought about first deck, Gregory.  But I don't have my first deck! Glad you still do!  The deck I've had the longest is the one I got way after my first deck had been sold or traded.  

 

I was going through my tarot decks the other day and thought of ones I GOT earlier on, but then thought which did I actually KEEP?  

 

I was surprised it was the uni waite.  Not the deck I read with the most, but still really love it and wouldn't trade it.  When they were printing in Belgium, great cardstock.  Not sure what newer ones are like.   

 

Reading your stories about decks you have had the longest is really interesting.  

[Esclarmonde]

This topic really started me thinking... 🙂The first deck I had is the Renaissance Tarot (US Games), so I guess that's the one I've had the longest, which will be a bit less than 30 years. I still read with it occasionally. The other deck I've had for years (and still have), is the Sheridan-Douglas. 

Edited October 9, 2023 by Esclarmonde

[GreatDane]

I'm impressed, Esclarmonde.  I had several that have since moved on, that was the first deck I actually still have today.  I have had all of my limited collection, save Tarot of Pagan Cats which I just got, for years now, but thinking back, yep, Uni Waite goes back to the FIRST actual keeper.  

[Natural Mystic Guide]

I've had my Universal Waite Tarot deck for about 24 years.  I don't read with it now because it's not pretty enough for me, but I sometimes do group events and I like having lots of choices so that everyone can have their own deck.

[GreatDane]

Wow the Uni Waite is the deck we've both had the longest!  It's the one printed in Belgium, which I think was 1990-91?  It shuffles like butter.  I love it.  That's not the one I gravitate to first, but just one I kept the longest.  I do go with RWS variants everytime.  As long as a deck follows that system, I'm good.  

Edited November 5, 2023 by GreatDane

[Tanga]

Art Nouveau - Matt Myers 1989 (bought c.30 years ago). The deck I started learning with. Now OOP - just seen available for c.£130 on Ebay...

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by Tanga

[GreatDane]

Wow, thirty years!  That is very cool, Tanga.  I was just thinking about the decks that were published decades ago, the choices, compared to now.  

[Guest]

Mine is my very first deck, an original edition Mythic Tarot my mom gave me as a gift. I still have the black spread cloth and the companion book.

[Scandinavianhermit]

1JJ Swiss and Rider-Waite with plaid backs bought in the mid-1980s, but possibly printed a few years before that. They are stored in my attic. 

[dancing_moon]

My very first deck, I guess (I still have it) - a Russian-language reprint of the Grimaud-Marteau TdM. 

[Hedera]

The deck I've had the longest is the first one I bought; a 1986 edition Thoth (it must have just come out), with three Magus cards.

 

I was 14 at the time, and all I had was the LWB in English (which is not my native language), so I really had no idea what to do with them.... My tarot road has been a long and winding one!

 

The edges are a bit foxed, but it still looks very good for it's age.

[Shaira]

I only have half a dozen decks, I'm not really a collector. My first ever deck was the Sacred Rose by Johanna Sherman, which I bought somewhere around 1984, and still have. Although I'm using the Radiant Wise Spirit these days, I still have a very soft spot for the Sacred Rose, which I love dearly. I find it quite beautiful, very meaningful, spiritual, and intensely intimate. 

[Laura Borealis]

My first deck was a RWS and my mom made me give it back (early 80s); my first Thoth I lent to a friend but we became estranged and I didn't get it back; other early decks I had ended up being traded away (Robin Wood, Aquarian, Cat People, others... like that weird German one with all the breasts, can't recall the name).

 

I think the oldest one I still have is Cosmic Tribe? (late 90s) Another from a few years later is the Fey Tarot. Still love and use both of them. 

 

Edit: Just remembered I have a Tarot of the Spirit (early 90s so that's older than Cosmic Tribe) but it wasn't continuously in my possession. I gave it to my sister-in-law, and when she died I got it back. I rarely use it though. A touch too abstract for me 

 

Edited February 25 by Laura Borealis

[geoxena]

RWS, with the plaid backs - my first tarot deck, bought in the late 70s.  It was my only deck until 2013, after I found Aeclectic and learned about others.  

 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 06:47 PM by geoxena

[Saturn Celeste]

When I returned to reading cards, I used my son's decks.  He 'retaught' me using the JJ Swiss deck and the Robin Wood.  The first deck I bought for myself when I completed my mentoring was the Etruscan deck.  The oldest deck in our family is the Ancestral Path, I bought for him when he was 13.

[Barleywine]

Large-format Thoth White Box B that I bought in 1972. It has some dog-eared cards with clear packing tape on them. I don't use it much any more because I have a few pocket-sized editions.

[Dancingzinnias]

My oldest deck is the first one I bought, the Nigel Jackson Tarot. I rarely bring her out because she's a bit worn but she will always have a very special place in my heart. Eventually, I would like to get another copy but being OOP it's a little more then I want to spend at the moment.

[Morwenna]

Stairs of Gold, bought in the early '80s I think. I don't know if I ever read with it, because it's a pip deck and I didn't really get the hang of it till I got some RWS-style decks. But I loved it then and love it still. I really ought to get it out once in a while... 

[zurgles]

Shadowscapes. I bought it June 2013, so it’s been 12 years now. I had two others before that. The Afro Brazillian deck bought a year earlier that I later gave away. And a mini tarot I can’t remember the name or even much the look of when I was around 11. I think I got it from borders or waldenbooks. I don’t know what happened to it, but I suspect my mom threw it away and I hadn’t realized. Tarot found me again though, bwahaha!