![](http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/loscarabeo/visconti-modrone-tarot/minichart.png)
I know we dont get much hype for Tarot decks around here much but this one caught my eye. It is a restoration of a tarot deck from 1400's Italy using gold and silver foil on the cards to recreate the gold leaves of the original.
I recently read the book "A History of Playing Cards" by Catherine Hargrave and the deck is mentioned early on in the Italy chapter. It was a deck originally commissioned by the Duke of Milan in 1415 for 1500 gold pieces! Painted by the painter Marziano da Tartona who lived in the court of Filippo Maria Visconti (the duke). The original deck is still in the possession of the Visconti family. The campaign says "The original XVth century deck was most likely composed of 80 cards " but the book states it was said to be a minchiate set which has 97 cards. (putting an end to the idea that Michelangelo created the minchiate deck to teach the children of Florence to think and count). Im guessing the people behind this campaign have more up to date information but I thought I figured I would share what the book had to say as well!
Anyway I suggest you check it out to see how they are going about restoring the deck staying as true to the original as possible. Also will come with a full color hard cover companion book and a coin. It is very close to reaching the 40k Euro gilding stretch goal as well with one week left which I would love to see! (Hence my sharing it here [BACON] )
Some pictures:
![Image](https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/021/353/744/cab7e3c06d8e7a538fb77d04ea2afd30_original.jpg?w=680&fit=max&v=1527244094&auto=format&q=92&s=e0f50613846fe7b34f359a73fb497387)
Some cards!
![Image](https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/021/353/564/0854f0dcad20a729d22ae1e253e27e1c_original.jpg?w=680&fit=max&v=1527242476&auto=format&q=92&s=be1fbfde1023654d7c30a205851d8d4b)
The original scan of the cards on the left and the restoration version on the right with some zoomed in areas for detail.
![Image](https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/021/355/078/0766158175ad3a04fe85dfd5fc20b3fb_original.jpg?w=680&fit=max&v=1527254654&auto=format&q=92&s=18bd30b625b41e0561226621e5433e28)
Cards in hand for scale!
![Image](https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/021/563/778/2d1ba3dcb3ba1cc2923175992faae396_original.jpg?w=680&fit=max&v=1528873361&auto=format&q=92&s=b8ba6cab21d89890602c42a1d47f317f)
The Coin.