Russian Tarot
© 1993  Deck by Victor Bakhtin
Published in Russia

The first thing I want to mention is that all of the cards borders inside the outside gold border are actually purple on my deck -- like the first sample image card of the Magician above.  These samples appear with various shades of purple due to the enhancement of color I added after scanning them.  I did that because they appeared so pale in the initial scan in comparison to the actual cards.  The cards themselves are not vividly bright, but the colors are toned down in comparison to what you see in the samples above.  Interestingly, I am not sure if there is actually another version of this deck, but I have seen pictures of these cards with black borders instead of purple ones -- which may have been due to the scanning which altered the coloring, as I encountered with the cards above versus there being another deck.  I do like the purple, and wish all the cards had come out that way after I enhanced them to make them a little bit brighter for the screen.  The Magician and the Queen of Coins (first and last cards in the grouping above) are more representative of the actual purple borders on all of the cards.

The box features Russian words on one side and English on the other side, which says "Russian Tarot:  Magic Fortune Telling and Meditation Tarot Cards."  Other than that, however, there is no further English notations within the deck -- not on the cards or in the 19-page booklet that comes with this deck.  All of the cards feature the Russian language to denote the name of the card at the bottom.  Each card is numbered from 0 through 77, and the arabic numbers are placed at the top of each card within a fancy border image.

The Russian Tarot deck is out of print, and if one is interested in this deck, it may be a challenge to find this -- unless you happen to get lucky.  I purchased my copy from the Tarot Garden quite a long time ago, and the status of this deck is that they are currently sold out and are exploring reorder options at the time of this writing in November 2009.  Sometimes The Tarot Garden will order additional decks (if they can be found), so you can always check there as a good starting point.  You should realize, too, that when you are purchasing older, out of print decks such as this one, the cost is usually quite high to obtain it.  Collectors usually won't squabble a lot about paying a high fee for a deck if it's something they really want to add to their collection, but many times, those who just want the deck to use for readings are not going to be so willing to pay a large fee for an out-of-print deck.  I have no idea at this time how much this deck is actually worth.  In trying to further research this Russian Tarot deck, I could find very little information on it.

This deck is done in a Marseilles style with the Ace through Ten of each suit displaying the suit element the number of times to match the given card.  For example, card #27 in the sample images above is the Nine of Wands which features a bundle of nine wands.  Card #60 which is the Four of Swords displays four swords on the card.  The Major Arcana and court cards are all fully illustrated.

The cards are small and easy to handle, measuring 4" x 2-1/2."  The back of the cards feature an eight-pointed star image in the center of a golden-colored background that radiates out like a flower

I don't use this deck much at all, but as with all of my decks, they are not merely a part of a collection as I will use them from time to time, and that holds true for this deck as well.  I love working with the Tarot, and if I have a deck that I like, I feel it is meant to be used and not just sit on a shelf.  I think the illustrated cards of this deck are quite lovely, and if the pip cards had been illustrated as well, this could have been a truly gorgeous deck.  I am not a big fan of Marseille-styled Tarot decks myself, but this is still certainly a functional deck, especially for those who prefer this style of Tarot cards.  Because of the lack of illustration on the pip cards, I wouldn't recommend this deck to a beginner.  But in the same token, this dated deck is not likely to be in the hands of a beginner, as it's a hard one to find.  It certainly makes me curious how much, if anything, this particular deck is worth.  I'll have to continue researching this one and see if I can come up with additional information :)

Velvet Angel

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Size of Cards:  4" x 2-1/2"

Included with deck: A small booklet of 19 pages written in the Russian language.

Major Arcana:  The card names seem to be traditional -- but as everything on the cards is written in Russian, I cannot be entirely sure.

Suit Names:  Cups, Wands, Swords, Coins (these may differ, possibly being noted as Hearts, Clubs, Staves, and Diamonds -- card names are all noted in the Russian language).

Court Cards:  Appear to be Page, Cavalier (Knight), Queen, and King

Back Design of Cards:

RUSSIAN TAROT Out of Print