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| Posted: Mon Jun 28th, 2021 01:04 am |
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1st Post |
Marcus
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I could use some help solving a mystery: I own the first and second English editions of the Trionfi Della Luna by Patrick Valenza. The first edition came with alternate Devil, Tower (called Lightening), Star, and Judgment cards, plus ten oracle cards. The second edition, which is still for sale at the Deviant Moon website, came with the alternate Tower (Lightening) card only, plus the ten oracle cards.
Earlier today, I spotted a recently sold version of Trionfi Della Luna that not only had the four alternate cards from the first edition but also had the recently released “House of God” card. The box it came in had the second edition box cover, but the end of the box had a "333" on it, rather than one of the images that appears on the end of the first or second editions.
I checked Deviant Moon's website, as well as the email updates I receive from them, but I cannot find any indication for the existence of this new version. It is my understanding that, so far, only some of the Paradoxical versions have been issued with the House of God card. In the past, I have seen Mr. Valenza release variations of certain decks in limited numbers as low as thirteen (such as Paradoxical Indigo), so I am wondering if I missed such a release, or is this a new, pirated version of Trionfi Della Luna?
The following photos show the box cover for the first edition on the left and the second edition (as well as the new mystery edition) on the right. There is also a photo showing the box ends for the first and second editions on the left and the mystery edition on the right (showing 333). Lastly, there is a photo showing all the alternate cards that were offered with this mystery edition.
Any information to help solve this mystery will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!Attached Image (viewed 46 times):
 Last edited on Sat Jul 3rd, 2021 05:58 pm by Marcus
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| Posted: Sun Jul 4th, 2021 09:45 pm |
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2nd Post |
gregory
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Your best bet is to contact Patrick. He does quite often issue ultra-limited extras and stuff - but if he didn't he would want to know.
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| Posted: Thu Jul 15th, 2021 04:50 am |
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Marcus
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Thanks for the suggestion Gregory! I emailed a copy of the link for the item in question to Deviant Moon. I received a response from someone (other than Patrick) who stated that it “looks” authentic, but they did not answer my question about when this version was issued.
I'm surprised that one got by me unnoticed because part of my daily routine for almost two years has been to check Deviant Moon's website and their eBay store at least once per day (usually twice per day). I do this because I know that Patrick often posts items for sale without sending out an email alert. I guess I'll have to be even more diligent in the future.
I'm hoping that the item was some sort of prototype and that he eventually offers a deluxe 115 card non-paradoxical version of Trionfi Della Luna such as he is currently offering with the Paradoxical Blue and Purple.
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| Posted: Sat Sep 25th, 2021 10:15 pm |
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4th Post |
TheThumbPuppy
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Hi Marcus,
This is probably not going to help you
However here it comes
The first clue is that the box end of the mystery edition has the writing http://www.deviantmoon.com, while Their website is now http://www.deviantmooninc.com.
From the command line, if you run:
ping http://www.deviantmooninc.com
you get:
PING shops.myshopify.com (23.227.38.74): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 23.227.38.74: icmp_seq=0 ttl=57 time=5.059 ms
64 bytes from 23.227.38.74: icmp_seq=1 ttl=57 time=13.280 ms
which seems to indicate that http://www.deviantmooninc.com is hosted by shops.myshopify.com
If you run the command:
whois deviantmooninc.com
you get:
Creation Date: 2017-12-31T18:46:37
which if I'm not wrong is the date when that domain was purchased at the registrar.
If you go to https://web.archive.org/web/2020*/deviantmooninc.com
you will see that the first time a page from deviantmooninc.com was archived was June 28, 2018.
And with a similar test I could ascertain that in Jan 2018 deviantmoon.com was already redirected to deviant-moon-inc.myshopify.com, and by April 2018 to deviantmooninc.com.
All this palaver leads me to believe, unless I made some logical error which wouldn't be unusual at this time in the evening, that your mystery deck could have been published before the first quarter of 2018. Unless they decided to continue to write the old domain "http://www.deviantmoon.com" on their tarot decks even after they changed their website domain, in which case all my sleuthing led me to a dead alley. 
The second clue comes from their pinterest page:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/11118330306517664/
The main picture shows "333" and the subtitle reads "333 Major Arcana".
The copyright of the box on the picture says "2014©".
But perhaps "333" appears in other products of theirs, in which case this is a red herring.
If you feel so inclined, you could check the archived pages from 2014 on archive.org. Perhaps you will find some page on the mystery deck, which has since been deleted from their website.
Miss Marple has left the building. :)
Last edited on Sat Sep 25th, 2021 10:26 pm by TheThumbPuppy
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| Posted: Sun Sep 26th, 2021 05:43 am |
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5th Post |
Marcus
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Thanks for the information.
It does appear that the box end of the second edition was changed at some point to feature the “333” on the end; however, that still does not explain the inclusion of the extra cards from the first edition, as well as the more recent “House of God” card. As of this posting, the 2nd edition is still being advertised at the Deviant Moon website as having only 90 cards.
Because someone from Deviant Moon stated that the edition in question “looks” authentic, I can only presume that it was some type of prototype offered by Deviant Moon, rather than a pirated edition or some type of hybrid assembled by the seller on eBay.
I have seen Deviant Moon offer limited editions of Trionfi Della Luna in numbers as few as 13, such as the signed and numbered editions of “Paradoxical Indigo.” As I recall, no email alert was issued for Paradoxical Indigo. The only reason I am aware of it is that I spotted it on their website during one of my routine checks. Of course, it was sold out within a few hours. The subject of this post was most likely a similar offering.
I am hoping that Deviant Moon eventually offers a deluxe 115 card non-paradoxical version of Trionfi Della Luna, such as they are currently offering with the Paradoxical Blue and Purple. The deluxe set includes the 5 alternate cards, the 10 oracle cards, and the 22 card “Beast Pack Expansion.”
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| Posted: Sun Sep 26th, 2021 12:16 pm |
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6th Post |
gregory
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Increasingly I find the constantly re-released/slightly modified/colour-change releases so tedious to follow that I'm not even collecting them any more. I wish he'd bring out a completely new deck - I do love his style. (And no, a historical creation doesn't cut it. His Kirchner Besançon is very nice - but I want some new VALENZA art.)
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| Posted: Sun Sep 26th, 2021 07:52 pm |
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7th Post |
Marcus
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I agree with you Gregory. The constant variations are getting tedious to keep up with. A deluxe 115 card non-paradoxical of Trionfi Della Luna will most likely be the last version I buy (if one is ever offered).
The only paradoxical version I own is the Italian Purple edition. I only purchased that one because the “buy it now” price was too good to pass on.
I considered purchasing the Paradoxical Indigo as an investment because there were only 13 signed and numbered editions offered, but I passed on it because the price was too high to start with.
I remember seeing a comedy sketch on the television show Saturday Night Live in which a director kept making sequels to the movie Soylent Green (such as Soylent White and Soylent Teal). They were all basically the same movie, only the color and item were changed. I am reminded of this sketch when I see so many variations of the same deck.
As far as new VALENZA art, the following link shows some of the items that he is working on. The items are listed as "Sold Out" because they are not yet available.
https://deviantmooninc.com/collections/the-laboratory-upcoming-projects
Last edited on Sun Sep 26th, 2021 09:48 pm by Marcus
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| Posted: Mon Sep 27th, 2021 11:26 am |
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gregory
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While looking at my database, I note that two of mine - the 22 card Luna and the paradoxical blue 22 card one - are subtitled "the 333 Tarot".
I might go and dig them out. Both entries say there are 6 bonus cards...
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| Posted: Mon Sep 27th, 2021 11:45 am |
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9th Post |
gregory
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Hm. I did not (of course) get the house of god - but the 333 was clearly there from the start:
The paradoxical is the same, but blue... I can't face digging out ALL of them...Attached Image (viewed 22 times):
5496.jpg?id=4278)
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| Posted: Mon Sep 27th, 2021 11:54 am |
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10th Post |
Peter
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I have the same Major Arcana deck as Gregory, with 333 on the wrapping. It has an extra Devil plus 6 numbered cards, which I guess must be oracle cards.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 27th, 2021 01:02 pm |
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11th Post |
gregory
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Exactly.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 27th, 2021 04:08 pm |
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Marcus
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The "333" I was referring to in my posts is regarding the one that appears on the lid of the box.
While the "333" has always appeared on the title card, the wrapping paper, and on the front of the box for First English, Italian and French Editions, the "333" does not appear on the box end (lid or bottom) of any on those editions or on the Second Edition that I purchased directly from Deviant Moon back in 2019 (see photo on left in my first post); however, the current second edition does have a "333" on the lid of the box (see photo on right in my first post).
As Gregory has stated, trying to keep track of so many variations is becoming increasingly tedious. Last edited on Mon Sep 27th, 2021 04:21 pm by Marcus
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