Quality of Sibilla Originale by Il Meneghello

[Ferrea]

Hello!

In August, I bought this deck but didn’t open it right away. Now I find the quality to be questionable.

The most obvious issue is the unevenly cut corners, which make the cards stick together.

Another problem is what I perceive as sloppy colouring. On some cards, it’s more annoying than on others.

I’ll attach what I think is the worst example.

 

Am I being too picky? Would this bother you?

[DanielJUK]

If you feel unhappy about it, I would contact the publisher. I remember when many of us pre-ordered the Visconti Modrone Tarot by Lo Scarabeo and the final deck that came to us had print errors and colour issues. They would send a replacement deck, I think they still honour that. So I think discuss it with the publisher at the least. They do want you to buy from them again, so will usually replace it 🙂 .

 

I wonder though, is this just one bad deck or maybe you are unhappy with the whole printing of it? Like would a replacement make it better?

[gregory]

From Il Meneghello I find this quite extraordinary. I have nothing of their that isn't superb - and I have several. Did you buy direct from them ? If so I would make contact. If not - I would wonder if you've been ripped off with a fake.

[Raggydoll]

What Gregory said. Those uneven corners does not look like something from Il Meneghello, so I wonder if what you have is a fake. If not, they surely will compensate you. 

[Ferrea]

Thanks for your replies!

 

I bought the deck from Harmonia Mundi along with two other decks (one of them being La Corte dei Tarocchi). Both Il Meneghello decks seem authentic to me.

I will contact both the reseller and the publisher. The deck was shrink-wrapped in foil, as was the box. I assume the reseller received it this way. 

 

 

3 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

...

I wonder though, is this just one bad deck or maybe you are unhappy with the whole printing of it? Like would a replacement make it better?

 

I did an extensive image search, and it seems that this sloppy colouring style is the standard for Il Meneghello’s Sibilla Originale. Only the shape of the corners appears to have changed over time.

I’m afraid you’re right—a replacement wouldn't make it better. What a pity.

 

[akiva]

1 hour ago, Ferrea said:

I bought the deck from Harmonia Mundi along with two other decks (one of them being La Corte dei Tarocchi). Both Il Meneghello decks seem authentic to me.

I had a quick look at that website and saw that the images are really low quality. That to me would usually indicate potential fake decks, as usually there's much higher quality images on selling sites. It could just be poor coding though 😅

 

2 hours ago, Ferrea said:

I’m afraid you’re right—a replacement wouldn't make it better. What a pity.

Does it need to be Il Meneghello? La Vera Sibilla has nice colouring, with sturdy almost plasticated cardstock. If you prefer more muted colours and 'normal' cardstock then The Everyday Oracle by Lo Scarabeo is a good one (I have both 😄)

[Ferrea]

55 minutes ago, akiva said:

I had a quick look at that website and saw that the images are really low quality. That to me would usually indicate potential fake decks, as usually there's much higher quality images on selling sites. It could just be poor coding though 😅 

...

 

Poor coding is my guess. I see a lot of Italian and French online shops, especially those with a huge assortment, where the images are wildly plastered all over the site.

 

 

Quote

Does it need to be Il Meneghello? La Vera Sibilla has nice colouring, with sturdy almost plasticated cardstock. If you prefer more muted colours and 'normal' cardstock then The Everyday Oracle by Lo Scarabeo is a good one (I have both 😄) 

 

I love their card stock. I once had the Masenghini, but the card stock was too hard for my taste. The Lo Scarabeo with white borders is actually my favourite. I also have the Zingara and the ‘800. All lovely. I can't speak of an actual need here. But thank you for chiming in and lifting me up. At least, that's how it felt.

 

[akiva]

16 hours ago, Ferrea said:

Poor coding is my guess. I see a lot of Italian and French online shops, especially those with a huge assortment, where the images are wildly plastered all over the site.

Having looked on amazon after I said it, I noticed they also have really bad image quality sometimes, so poor coding does look like it's the most likely.

 

16 hours ago, Ferrea said:

I love their card stock. I once had the Masenghini, but the card stock was too hard for my taste. The Lo Scarabeo with white borders is actually my favourite. I also have the Zingara and the ‘800. All lovely. I can't speak of an actual need here. But thank you for chiming in and lifting me up. At least, that's how it felt.

Yeah the Masenghini is a bit like shuffling credit cards. I ended up rubbing the backs of the cards against a table edge and that softened them a bit, but it's not for riffling it seems. Which sucks as it has the best colouring imo 😊

 

You got a white border LS? You're so lucky! I'm not surprised it's your favourite. My black border one looks like it's taken a huge beating. Out of the Zingara and '800 which do you prefer? Both have been on my 'to get list' for a while.

 

Have you considered trimming the Il Meneghello? It seems to have nice square inner borders so might be an easy job? Though that doesn't fix the sloppy colouring 😆

[Ferrea]

@akiva, I answer your question here.

[Ferrea]

Here’s a little update on the Sibilla case.
At the end of November, I contacted Il Meneghello with pictures of the crooked corners and asked them to suggest a solution. They replied quite promptly (with a weekend in between), acknowledging the flaw, apologising, and offering me either a refund or an alternative deck (as the recent Sibilla edition is out of stock).

I expressed how pleased I was with their customer service and said I’d prefer a refund, as I had just purchased several of their decks. They responded by asking if I could return the deck so they could better understand the issue. I agreed and asked if they could provide a return label. Then—silence.

After a week, I emailed them again, assuming they might be very busy at this time of year, but mentioned that I’d like to know how they wish to proceed regarding the refund and the return of the deck. Once again, silence.

Another week later, I sent an email expressing my frustration, saying I felt ghosted and that I didn’t think it was unreasonable to expect a resolution.

 

I don’t recall ever being ghosted by a customer service team before, and I find it really confusing.

 

 

[Raggydoll]

27 minutes ago, Ferrea said:

Here’s a little update on the Sibilla case.
At the end of November, I contacted Il Meneghello with pictures of the crooked corners and asked them to suggest a solution. They replied quite promptly (with a weekend in between), acknowledging the flaw, apologising, and offering me either a refund or an alternative deck (as the recent Sibilla edition is out of stock).

I expressed how pleased I was with their customer service and said I’d prefer a refund, as I had just purchased several of their decks. They responded by asking if I could return the deck so they could better understand the issue. I agreed and asked if they could provide a return label. Then—silence.

After a week, I emailed them again, assuming they might be very busy at this time of year, but mentioned that I’d like to know how they wish to proceed regarding the refund and the return of the deck. Once again, silence.

Another week later, I sent an email expressing my frustration, saying I felt ghosted and that I didn’t think it was unreasonable to expect a resolution.

 

I don’t recall ever being ghosted by a customer service team before, and I find it really confusing.

 

 

Thats odd. I really hope they’ll contact you soon! 

[Rose Lalonde]

@Ferrea, this may be unrelated with your timing, and it's certainly not good to receive no reply, but just to add that Meneghello died in mid-December a few years ago, and the shop may have had a memorial event in addition to the holiday busyness you mentioned.  I dealt with them once years ago, and they were very responsive. It's still the same person in charge, but of course that was just one instance and ymmv, and again... you deserve a response. I'm sorry you've had trouble getting this resolved. 

Edited December 17, 2024 by Rose Lalonde

[Ferrea]

1 hour ago, Rose Lalonde said:

@Ferrea, this may be unrelated with your timing, and it's certainly not good to receive no reply, but just to add that Meneghello died in mid-December a few years ago, and the shop may have had a memorial event in addition to the holiday busyness you mentioned.  I dealt with them once years ago, and they were very responsive. It's still the same person in charge, but of course that was just one instance and ymmv, and again... you deserve a response. I'm sorry you've had trouble getting this resolved. 

 

Thanks for the info! I didn't know that.