About a month and a half ago, a thread on AT about the Tarot of the Dark Dawn alerted me to Outlaw Effects, a company that makes props for "mentalism" magic tricks. The decks are hand aged to enhance the perception that they are old and used (the backs are also marked). While some folks on AT were rather upset about the price, it's actually pretty reasonable for a magic effect with that much hand work.
Intrigued, I began clicking around their fascinating (but rather disorganized) web site and came upon another deck, the Carnie (or Carny) Tarot (links to a self-launching video). It was so delightfully disturbing that I was in the process of ordering a copy when I noticed over in the sidebar of the info page a reference to a "Cursed Carnie" tarot, but no description of what exactly made it "cursed." Some more clicking around finally located it in theĀ "Specialities" section and I ordered a copy, which arrived (along with a copy of the Tarot of the Dark Dawn, which is also quite delightful) last week.
As you can see, the deck comes in an aged box and is wrapped in a well-used (appearing) swatch of brown cloth. The cards are on fairly heavy stock (although not as heavy as the Tarot of the Dark Dawn, which is extremely thick) and are warped into a curve, as one might expect with an old, much-used (and, of course, cursed) deck. There is also a LWB that gives background on the decks supposed history and explains the method by which the backs are marked.
Overall, it's a marvelous production. Highly recommended.Attached Image (viewed 113 times):
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