c.1830-40 24 card oracle/fortune telling deck, with Lenormand influence
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Deck: 24-card fortune-telling deck with illustrations signed Gaston Smit
Description: Scarce 24-card fortune-telling deck, c.1930–40, with illustrations bearing the signature and initials of Gaston Smit. Publisher unidentified. Smit was an illustrator active in France during the early twentieth century, associated with the names Georges Topfer and James Barclay; further biographical details remain obscure.
The deck draws extensively on the Petit Lenormand: 20 of its 24 subjects have counterparts in the standard 36-card system, with some differences in wording and singular or plural forms. The four additional subjects are Le Lion, La Fortune, Le Travail, and La Foudre. Several cards incorporate imagery suggestive of North Africa. The same sequence of 24 subjects appears in Alain Le Foll’s 1964 Elle tarot deck.
Deck Identifiers:
· Style: 24-card oracle/fortune-telling deck with Lenormand influence
· Versos/backs: Plain blue paper
· Captions: French
· Borders: Thin black line
· Corner Indices: Arabic numerals
Card Identifiers: Gaston Smit's signature and initials appear on several cards
· Titles: 1 - Le Soleil (The Sun), 2 - La Lune (The Moon), 3 - La Maison (The House), 4 - La Clef (The Key), 5 - L’Arbre (The Tree), 6 - Le Cercueil (The Coffin), 7 - L’Étoile (The Star), 8 - Les Fleurs (The Flowers), 9 - L’Oiseau (The Bird), 10 - Le Lion (The Lion), 11 - Les Enfants (The Children), 12 - Le Renard (The Fox), 13 - Le Serpent (The Snake), 14 - Les Nuées (The Clouds), 15 - Le Cavalier (The Rider), 16 - Le Vaisseau (The Ship), 17 - La Fortune (Fortune), 18 - Le Poisson (The Fish), 19 - L’Homme (The Man), 20 - La Femme (The Woman), 21 - La Cigogne (The Stork), 22 - Le Travail (Work), 23 - La Foudre (The Lightning), 24 - L’Anneau (The Ring).
Card measurements: 7 cm x 5 cm
CONDITION: Complete with 24 of 24 cards. Poor condition overall; all cards are delicate and very fragile, with extensive wear, chips, tears, and losses. The printed face layers of card 17 (La Fortune) and card 23 (La Foudre) have peeled away from their backing layers, with some partially detached fragments. Requires careful handling. Please see photographs.
