Well, here I am, late to the party AGAIN. But I'm here! I was talking to Jennifer Ball the other day (as I do) and she mentioned you had a video up. "WHAT!" I exclaimed. "Brant is recording?" I wasn't getting ANY notifications! Well - I think I fixed it. ugh DAMMIT RUclips! The RWS (plaid backs) was my VERY first tarot deck - I threw the box away LONG ago and still can't figure out which edition I have. I bought it at a little metaphysical shop in 2004 but I'm gonna guess it's a 90's edition because the card stock is really nice. This was really interesting and well presented. You are a fountain of RWS info! Thank you!
Little Zen Crone yep I decided to go ahead and start making videos because I love old decks that there isn’t much info on. I figured I’d make some walk throughs and share the information I’ve learned about the creators. :) it’s been fun so far.
Hi Brant, thank you for this video. It really helped in making the decision on what OOP Yellow Box to get. I was able to purchase one with copyright on the cards and the box has no isbn. The white book is from 38 East 32nd Street, New York and it is reissue no. 16 (the same as one you have). I sent a message to US Games on the exact production date of this deck. A nice person from US Games got back to me and informed me that it was produced in 1980. It was the first Yellow Box to be produced at 38 East 32nd Street, New York. I thought you might want to know this, for your research on the Yellow Box. I am really happy with the card stock, line weights and colours in this deck, and it cost me about one fifth of the price of a Blue Box. Also, on the Page of Cups card in this deck there is a black dot between his legs (looks like a printing error) does your reissue no. 16 have this as well? Here is an image of what I am talking about from my Instagram page: instagram.com/p/CFvQ7tFHjy3/ Thanks again for making this video, it was super helpful. Kind regards, Kenneth
I sent you and Instagram message because I figured it would be easier to show you my card and explain about the spot more. Thanks for your research on the timeline 😄
Thanks for this! I’ve been trying to date mine for two years. Yours is the closest to my printing number I’ve seen so far! I have a 31st printing. The box is so much like your 27th, except it’s from CT. That’s the only difference. The top still says, “made in Switzerland expressly…” (except the address is CT) From what I could tell, The High Priestess and The Hermit have similar colors also. It was meant to be a replacement for my first deck that I got in 1990 and have since lost, so I guess I’m right on the money! Thanks again!!!!
I always thought my mid 80s RWS was nicer than some of the modern prints. Even though it had copyrights, it was printed in Switzerland by Agmueller, the colours were softer, and the plates were lined up better. I remember the 80s Fool had a "mustard" yellow sky, while in modern Chinese prints it is very bright yellow.(almost gaudy)They also seemed to be less glossy in those days than they are now. Thanks for posting this informative video! Cheers! : )
This was a great video, Brant! Thank you. 😀 I really would love to bring a great vintage deck or two into my collection. I fall more in love with the original RWS every day. ❤️
I love these scientific run-throughs...I really lucked out and when I decided to break down and begrudgingly order the yellow box, I ordered three (mostly from watching Mindful Tarot and Raggedpoet) the first was the most recent bulky blotchy new deck. The second was a really fabulous 90's deck that I LOVE the cardstock from (of?) printing #28 thank you for the info...and the third was...I guess a first edition? there's no number on the LWB...but it does have an odd, what I thought was blushing fool, but may just be a sweaty fool? But I love the way the print is on it, the color and linework is so smooth and there seems to be more different colors. I always look at the wings of the big angels in Temperance and the Lovers...so pretty.
I have totally fallen in love with my yellow boxes. I just had one delivered that I wasn’t sure was pre-copyright but thought there was a chance. The price was great so I got it. It turned out to not only be copyright free. But it’s SEALED. I can’t even bring myself to open it. I don’t think I ever will
Hey Brant, great video, although I'm catching it a few years late! I had no idea that the series of numbers inside the cover of the LWB listed the specific edition?? Thanks to you, I now know that I have a 1971, no copyright, sunburned Magician, Made In Switzerland for US Games...and it's a _10th edition_ . I thought you should know that a 10th edition exists, in case you wanted to search one out for your personal collection. Love the Moon Baby Tarot, looking forward to your next creation! Cheers!
10th edition of the LWB, not necessarily the deck, which may have been printed much later. Also, mismatches between decks, boxes, and LWBs are always a possibility. I see people on eBay selling LWBs, cards, boxes, and even individual cards separately. Unless you get a NOS sealed box, you can't be sure.
Science to Soul Tarot with Jen thanks so much for watching! I don’t even really know why I love the yellow box so much. I always seem to like the things most people don’t care for though 😂
I must be weird but I like the newest or the last you showed the greener sky hermit I thought it was cleaner had better lines and I like the shine it just brightens it up more. Enjoyed learning about RWS
This was so interesting! You are so knowlrdgable about these 😀 I would love to get one of the blue box RWS, not necessarily a blushing fool, after I had a look through Simon’s 😍
Thanks for sharing. You are the 3rd person I've seen that has covered the RWS so greatly. I have the 1980's one with the ISBN on the side and the 1971 copyright but no US Games on it. I would love to know the exact year because there are 2 for the early 1980's.
Carm Men my understanding is that the best way to tell the approximate year is with the address on the little white book. You have to be careful with that though because sometimes older little white books make it into newer decks.
Here's a little history about Samuel Weiser and Weiser books. I recall having visited the store when I moved to Manhatten in 1975, but my memory might be off. It seems I recall the address being in Chelsea on like West 18th St. or thereabouts. But, I might be thinking of an old occult shop called Magickal Child that simply sold Weiser books.
I have the first edition and first printing of this deck. It is amazing. A bit more detailed and saturated than my other printings. I don't think the Blue Box is any better than this first printing from images I've seen. Card stock is buttery and papery and the detail spectacular. It's a blushing Fool and HP. WB 4§8 Park Avenue NY NY Says is was reissued in collaboration with Rider and Company: London. There is no printing number on the inside cover so that's why I think it was the first printing. Any thoughts? Also, I have one of those promotional box sets with 2 paper back books on the tarot and one deck of the RWS AGMeuller and printed in Switzerland expressly for US Games. It's still in the shrink wrap. No copyright of course. I bet you have one of these sets.
This was everything!!! I hated the original RWS deck and so my first deck was Tarot of the Cat People....lol. NOW, I have a new appreciation for the original and really would like to have a decent one.
Jennifer Ball's Witch House everyone always hates the yellow box. That’s why I became obsessed with hunting down old editions to see why it became the tarot everyone thinks of. The older editions are MUCH better than the garbage they sell now lol
Thanks for this video! I can now really narrow down the year my yellow box deck was printed. It's the 26th printing, so probably 1986-88? Anyway, thanks again!
Changed your RUclips name...? :) This is the edition I know the least. I have the "Blushing Fool" from Rider's blue box edition from the 1970s. Didn't think much of it :/ and decided it is a collector's fluke. Which I think is what smithwaite.org basically proposes. That is a good website to start off with if you are still researching by the way. Do you realise that the best vintage RWS were printed by the same people? AG Muller & Cie in Switzerland, a.k.a AGM, now AGM-Urania the publisher of one of the nicest modern incarnation of the RWS, the English version of which has been blocked by US Games. I miss geeking out over tarot editions... Good times! Thanks for this!
Murasaki & Co I’m so glad to connect with you! I miss your tarot walk throughs. Your perspective on the card designs was always interesting to me. I did realize that the publisher was the same and I think it’s interesting that they produce the current best edition of this deck. I think it says something about how much the people involved with the company care about the deck!
@@moonbabytarot I remember you profile pic from some of the live chats I used to do, and I only remember people usually because I remember interesting things they said during various conversations :P Yes, AGM-Urania. AGM as it was is no more now, looks like they have been merged once or twice with companies in Belgium and Germany, but their printing tradition went back at least a century, so it is good isn't it to see that none of their knowledge base, skills, and tradition have been lost to time...! Glad to see this video pop up on my feed. I have decided to subscribe to your channel even before you posted content because something you said during one of my live chats intrigued me. In case you decided to post videos. But for some reason, I never get any feeds from your channel until now. I really do hate RUclips :/ Glad to finally find out that you are posting videos though :)
Murasaki & Co that means a lot to me. I’m hoping to highlight decks that aren’t talked about much or are hard to find. Maybe I’ll do a live eventually so we can discuss things. Im not putting too much pressure on myself because I feel quality is superior to quantity 😃
Wondering whether you could provide me with an image scan of a ~1988-90 yellow tuck box? My version from that era lives in a wood box, also dating from that era, and I would like to decoupage the cover with a yellow tuck box image. Alternately, I would use the image to order a tin for the deck. Sadly, I threw out the box in the late ‘90’s due to it wearing out.
Moon Baby stephen.m.palmer@gmail.com. What a help! Thank you! From your video, my best guess is that my version is the middle one you display from the late “80’s-‘90.
I think there are a few decks out there that are "transitional" between the addresses. For example, I have a U.S. Games Yellow Box where the box looks very much like an early 38 E 32nd St box, but the cards inside have no copyright on them. The LWB has 468 Park Ave printed on the front cover, but 38 E 32nd on the inside of the back cover. One of the two extra cards is blank, and the other has a listing for "The Encyclopedia of Tarot" and has the 32nd Street address at the bottom of that. The LWB printing is #15. I also noticed on Katey Flowers's "Vintage RWS Deck Comparison Video" that her US Games sunburned Magician deck has a "Rider & Co." LWB with the 3 Fitzroy Ave address on it. I cued the time stamp here right to her look at that deck. ruclips.net/video/UUNeOvx7xF0/видео.html At first I thought Katey must have inadvertently put the LWB from her Blushing Fool blue box into her sunburned Magician deck, but you can catch a little glimpse of the LWB in her video before she got her blue box, and it clearly has the Rider World on the cover. I'd seen on some message boards in the past that some Weiser decks had Rider LWBs in them...maybe there were some that got mixed up at Mueller & Cie with the US Games boxes, too?
That is interesting about the blue box LWB in the yellow box deck. I think it must have been a mixup at the printer since they were both printed by the same company.
If you think about the printing process, the cards, the book and the box would have been printed at different times, and possibly on different machines. So I would not be surprised if the little white books were printed up in bulk and possibly put in other print-runs of the cards...just my opinion. I worked in large city printing shops in Baton Rouge for a few years.
Yeah, the yellow box is an international affair! Up until the Italy decks, the LWBs were produced in the US while the cards were done in Switzerland and then Belgium. I think the boxes were also done in the US, but that's just an educated guess.
That sassy snap. Do you know about waitesmith.org/ ? They do a good job of going through the different historical editions. You have a nice collection! Thanks for sharing!
It is always possible, though perhaps not very probable, that the box, the LWB, and the cards are a mis-match. You never know what you're gonna get on places like eBay. Just seeing numerous youtube vids of people with multiple yellow box decks -- there is always a chance that the person who had various decks mixed them up before selling. If people are collecting different editions now, who's to say they didn't do that 20-30 years ago as well? Also, the LWBs were printed separately from the decks. So it is very likely that the LWB included in the box originally was printed long before the actual deck. I doubt US Games would have thrown out perfectly good cartons of LWBs for the mere fact that 40 years later it would confuse collector's trying to date a deck. Question: Yellow box, no "registered" symbol on front after the word "deck", made in Switzerland, Muller & Cie, copyright on back of box on bottom, no ISBNs to be found anywhere, cards have small copyrights on them. No LWB. Magician on cover must have used lots of sunblock. Approx year? Assuming not a mismatch. Post-1975, right? Pre or post 1980? Not sure. thnx
Awesome walkthrough.... and now the hunt is on for an Samuel Wisener! 👀
The Hermit’s Cave I’m on the lookout 👀
Well, here I am, late to the party AGAIN. But I'm here! I was talking to Jennifer Ball the other day (as I do) and she mentioned you had a video up. "WHAT!" I exclaimed. "Brant is recording?" I wasn't getting ANY notifications! Well - I think I fixed it. ugh DAMMIT RUclips! The RWS (plaid backs) was my VERY first tarot deck - I threw the box away LONG ago and still can't figure out which edition I have. I bought it at a little metaphysical shop in 2004 but I'm gonna guess it's a 90's edition because the card stock is really nice. This was really interesting and well presented. You are a fountain of RWS info! Thank you!
Little Zen Crone yep I decided to go ahead and start making videos because I love old decks that there isn’t much info on. I figured I’d make some walk throughs and share the information I’ve learned about the creators. :) it’s been fun so far.
@@moonbabytarot Good for you! I'm liking them!
Hi Brant, thank you for this video. It really helped in making the decision on what OOP Yellow Box to get. I was able to purchase one with copyright on the cards and the box has no isbn. The white book is from 38 East 32nd Street, New York and it is reissue no. 16 (the same as one you have). I sent a message to US Games on the exact production date of this deck. A nice person from US Games got back to me and informed me that it was produced in 1980. It was the first Yellow Box to be produced at 38 East 32nd Street, New York. I thought you might want to know this, for your research on the Yellow Box. I am really happy with the card stock, line weights and colours in this deck, and it cost me about one fifth of the price of a Blue Box.
Also, on the Page of Cups card in this deck there is a black dot between his legs (looks like a printing error) does your reissue no. 16 have this as well?
Here is an image of what I am talking about from my Instagram page:
instagram.com/p/CFvQ7tFHjy3/
Thanks again for making this video, it was super helpful.
Kind regards,
Kenneth
I sent you and Instagram message because I figured it would be easier to show you my card and explain about the spot more.
Thanks for your research on the timeline 😄
Thanks for this! I’ve been trying to date mine for two years. Yours is the closest to my printing number I’ve seen so far! I have a 31st printing. The box is so much like your 27th, except it’s from CT. That’s the only difference. The top still says, “made in Switzerland expressly…” (except the address is CT) From what I could tell, The High Priestess and The Hermit have similar colors also. It was meant to be a replacement for my first deck that I got in 1990 and have since lost, so I guess I’m right on the money! Thanks again!!!!
This was so nice of you to do. Thank you.
You Asked Tarot I’m so happy to do it. I love this deck and it’s not hard to find a good copy. People just need the information 😄
I always thought my mid 80s RWS was nicer than some of the modern prints. Even though it had copyrights, it was printed in Switzerland by Agmueller, the colours were softer, and the plates were lined up better. I remember the 80s Fool had a "mustard" yellow sky, while in modern Chinese prints it is very bright yellow.(almost gaudy)They also seemed to be less glossy in those days than they are now. Thanks for posting this informative video! Cheers! : )
This was a great video, Brant! Thank you. 😀 I really would love to bring a great vintage deck or two into my collection. I fall more in love with the original RWS every day. ❤️
Jen's Balanced Tarot it’s so much fun. But beware collecting vintage it’s super addictive 😂
@@moonbabytarot preach...
Thank you so much for doing this video. I really appreciate it! You packed an incredible amount of information in.
I love these scientific run-throughs...I really lucked out and when I decided to break down and begrudgingly order the yellow box, I ordered three (mostly from watching Mindful Tarot and Raggedpoet) the first was the most recent bulky blotchy new deck. The second was a really fabulous 90's deck that I LOVE the cardstock from (of?) printing #28 thank you for the info...and the third was...I guess a first edition? there's no number on the LWB...but it does have an odd, what I thought was blushing fool, but may just be a sweaty fool? But I love the way the print is on it, the color and linework is so smooth and there seems to be more different colors. I always look at the wings of the big angels in Temperance and the Lovers...so pretty.
oh, and I never paid more than $50 for mine...you're right, sometimes you just get lucky if you watch out for them.
I have totally fallen in love with my yellow boxes. I just had one delivered that I wasn’t sure was pre-copyright but thought there was a chance. The price was great so I got it. It turned out to not only be copyright free. But it’s SEALED. I can’t even bring myself to open it. I don’t think I ever will
Hey Brant, great video, although I'm catching it a few years late! I had no idea that the series of numbers inside the cover of the LWB listed the specific edition?? Thanks to you, I now know that I have a 1971, no copyright, sunburned Magician, Made In Switzerland for US Games...and it's a _10th edition_ . I thought you should know that a 10th edition exists, in case you wanted to search one out for your personal collection. Love the Moon Baby Tarot, looking forward to your next creation! Cheers!
10th edition of the LWB, not necessarily the deck, which may have been printed much later. Also, mismatches between decks, boxes, and LWBs are always a possibility.
I see people on eBay selling LWBs, cards, boxes, and even individual cards separately. Unless you get a NOS sealed box, you can't be sure.
So informative! I’m wondering if Samuel Weiser is now Weiser Books in Maine? They publish esoteric books and tarot decks.
This was super interesting to listen to Brant. You’re such a wealth of knowledge on this topic 😊
Science to Soul Tarot with Jen thanks so much for watching! I don’t even really know why I love the yellow box so much. I always seem to like the things most people don’t care for though 😂
I love that you have a niche for collecting the yellow box. I think that’s so cool 😎
I must be weird but I like the newest or the last you showed the greener sky hermit I thought it was cleaner had better lines and I like the shine it just brightens it up more. Enjoyed learning about RWS
Mystic Owl Tarot I’m so glad you enjoyed it! The greener sky is a nice shade! It’s cool to watch the shift happen though the years
This was so interesting! You are so knowlrdgable about these 😀 I would love to get one of the blue box RWS, not necessarily a blushing fool, after I had a look through Simon’s 😍
The Whispering Well I want a blue box SO badly. They’re hard to find here though.
They do come up sometimes on EBay UK but very often for over £100 unless you just get lucky 😊
Thanks for sharing. You are the 3rd person I've seen that has covered the RWS so greatly. I have the 1980's one with the ISBN on the side and the 1971 copyright but no US Games on it. I would love to know the exact year because there are 2 for the early 1980's.
Carm Men my understanding is that the best way to tell the approximate year is with the address on the little white book. You have to be careful with that though because sometimes older little white books make it into newer decks.
Moon Baby it has the 38th street address.
Here's a little history about Samuel Weiser and Weiser books. I recall having visited the store when I moved to Manhatten in 1975, but my memory might be off. It seems I recall the address being in Chelsea on like West 18th St. or thereabouts. But, I might be thinking of an old occult shop called Magickal Child that simply sold Weiser books.
Toadstool Tarot that is SO cool! I would have loved to be able to see an actual store front for Weiser books! It must have been interesting
I have the first edition and first printing of this deck. It is amazing. A bit more detailed and saturated than my other printings. I don't think the Blue Box is any better than this first printing from images I've seen. Card stock is buttery and papery and the detail spectacular. It's a blushing Fool and HP. WB 4§8 Park Avenue NY NY Says is was reissued in collaboration with Rider and Company: London. There is no printing number on the inside cover so that's why I think it was the first printing. Any thoughts?
Also, I have one of those promotional box sets with 2 paper back books on the tarot and one deck of the RWS AGMeuller and printed in Switzerland expressly for US Games. It's still in the shrink wrap. No copyright of course. I bet you have one of these sets.
This was everything!!! I hated the original RWS deck and so my first deck was Tarot of the Cat People....lol. NOW, I have a new appreciation for the original and really would like to have a decent one.
Jennifer Ball's Witch House everyone always hates the yellow box. That’s why I became obsessed with hunting down old editions to see why it became the tarot everyone thinks of. The older editions are MUCH better than the garbage they sell now lol
Super helpful! Thank you!😍
Fascinating, I love the RWS
MOON_OF_FORTUNE awesome! It’s my favorite deck!😁
Moon Baby , hee hee I can tell lol ..! I have times when I drift off to other modern decks but I always come back to this.
the one i have is sooo thin. i did not know until i started watching comparisons
Oh! And inside cover has these 2 little dice on it.
Thanks for this video! I can now really narrow down the year my yellow box deck was printed. It's the 26th printing, so probably 1986-88? Anyway, thanks again!
The 26th printing is probably in the 80s. I’m glad I could help you identify your deck! Thanks for saying hi!
Changed your RUclips name...? :) This is the edition I know the least. I have the "Blushing Fool" from Rider's blue box edition from the 1970s. Didn't think much of it :/ and decided it is a collector's fluke. Which I think is what smithwaite.org basically proposes. That is a good website to start off with if you are still researching by the way. Do you realise that the best vintage RWS were printed by the same people? AG Muller & Cie in Switzerland, a.k.a AGM, now AGM-Urania the publisher of one of the nicest modern incarnation of the RWS, the English version of which has been blocked by US Games. I miss geeking out over tarot editions... Good times! Thanks for this!
PS: Tracy at Becoming Temperance has a great "yellow box" comparison video that you might wanna check out
Murasaki & Co I’m so glad to connect with you! I miss your tarot walk throughs. Your perspective on the card designs was always interesting to me.
I did realize that the publisher was the same and I think it’s interesting that they produce the current best edition of this deck. I think it says something about how much the people involved with the company care about the deck!
@@moonbabytarot I remember you profile pic from some of the live chats I used to do, and I only remember people usually because I remember interesting things they said during various conversations :P Yes, AGM-Urania. AGM as it was is no more now, looks like they have been merged once or twice with companies in Belgium and Germany, but their printing tradition went back at least a century, so it is good isn't it to see that none of their knowledge base, skills, and tradition have been lost to time...! Glad to see this video pop up on my feed. I have decided to subscribe to your channel even before you posted content because something you said during one of my live chats intrigued me. In case you decided to post videos. But for some reason, I never get any feeds from your channel until now. I really do hate RUclips :/ Glad to finally find out that you are posting videos though :)
Murasaki & Co that means a lot to me. I’m hoping to highlight decks that aren’t talked about much or are hard to find. Maybe I’ll do a live eventually so we can discuss things. Im not putting too much pressure on myself because I feel quality is superior to quantity 😃
@@moonbabytarot Hear! Hear! 😄
Wondering whether you could provide me with an image scan of a ~1988-90 yellow tuck box? My version from that era lives in a wood box, also dating from that era, and I would like to decoupage the cover with a yellow tuck box image. Alternately, I would use the image to order a tin for the deck. Sadly, I threw out the box in the late ‘90’s due to it wearing out.
Stephen Palmer I’d be happy do scan mine and send it to you!
Moon Baby stephen.m.palmer@gmail.com. What a help! Thank you! From your video, my best guess is that my version is the middle one you display from the late “80’s-‘90.
I think there are a few decks out there that are "transitional" between the addresses. For example, I have a U.S. Games Yellow Box where the box looks very much like an early 38 E 32nd St box, but the cards inside have no copyright on them. The LWB has 468 Park Ave printed on the front cover, but 38 E 32nd on the inside of the back cover. One of the two extra cards is blank, and the other has a listing for "The Encyclopedia of Tarot" and has the 32nd Street address at the bottom of that. The LWB printing is #15.
I also noticed on Katey Flowers's "Vintage RWS Deck Comparison Video" that her US Games sunburned Magician deck has a "Rider & Co." LWB with the 3 Fitzroy Ave address on it. I cued the time stamp here right to her look at that deck. ruclips.net/video/UUNeOvx7xF0/видео.html
At first I thought Katey must have inadvertently put the LWB from her Blushing Fool blue box into her sunburned Magician deck, but you can catch a little glimpse of the LWB in her video before she got her blue box, and it clearly has the Rider World on the cover. I'd seen on some message boards in the past that some Weiser decks had Rider LWBs in them...maybe there were some that got mixed up at Mueller & Cie with the US Games boxes, too?
That is interesting about the blue box LWB in the yellow box deck. I think it must have been a mixup at the printer since they were both printed by the same company.
If you think about the printing process, the cards, the book and the box would have been printed at different times, and possibly on different machines. So I would not be surprised if the little white books were printed up in bulk and possibly put in other print-runs of the cards...just my opinion. I worked in large city printing shops in Baton Rouge for a few years.
Yeah, the yellow box is an international affair! Up until the Italy decks, the LWBs were produced in the US while the cards were done in Switzerland and then Belgium. I think the boxes were also done in the US, but that's just an educated guess.
Thank you!
Anytime! Glad you enjoyed/ found it helpful 😁
That sassy snap. Do you know about waitesmith.org/ ? They do a good job of going through the different historical editions. You have a nice collection! Thanks for sharing!
It is always possible, though perhaps not very probable, that the box, the LWB, and the cards are a mis-match. You never know what you're gonna get on places like eBay. Just seeing numerous youtube vids of people with multiple yellow box decks -- there is always a chance that the person who had various decks mixed them up before selling. If people are collecting different editions now, who's to say they didn't do that 20-30 years ago as well?
Also, the LWBs were printed separately from the decks. So it is very likely that the LWB included in the box originally was printed long before the actual deck. I doubt US Games would have thrown out perfectly good cartons of LWBs for the mere fact that 40 years later it would confuse collector's trying to date a deck.
Question: Yellow box, no "registered" symbol on front after the word "deck", made in Switzerland, Muller & Cie, copyright on back of box on bottom, no ISBNs to be found anywhere, cards have small copyrights on them. No LWB. Magician on cover must have used lots of sunblock. Approx year? Assuming not a mismatch. Post-1975, right? Pre or post 1980? Not sure. thnx