Authentic vs counterfeit deck: Lilifer Tarot
So, a while back I told a friend (who is not into tarot) of mine that the Lilifer Tarot was on my wishlist. For my birthday this year, she got me the deck. Except it wasn't the deck. It was a counterfeit. She'd gotten it off of Amazon and didn't know any better. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to get the authentic deck from Little Darkness. Both are the "gold" versions. I thought it'd be interesting to post a comparison of the two decks.
Counterfeit box is on the right, cards on the bottom in the pictures.
First difference: the size of the decks. The counterfeit is much smaller. I'd almost call it pocket size.
Second difference: the gilding. It's totally absent with both the counterfeit box and cards. On the counterfeit backs, the spots that should be gilded are inked black.
Third and fourth differences: the back of the boxes and guide book. The authentic deck has a guidebook where the counterfeit does not. The counterfeit has a QR code that takes the user to a massive list you have to hunt through to find your deck, then download a sketchy PDF. Because there is no booklet included with the counterfeit, the blurb on the back is edited to reflect that.
Fifth difference: this one may be a little more difficult to see in the photos, but the colors on the counterfeit deck are odd. The saturation is off in some spots, as is the texture and evenness of the color. Now, watercolor isn't necessarily even per se, but when I compared one card to the other, I could see slight differences.
Sixth difference: and this one, in my opinion, is the most important. Quality of the card stock. The authentic deck has a thick, durable feel to it. It's a matte finish, silky to the touch, and very pleasant to shuffle. The counterfeit, is quite frankly, crap. It's like shuffling shiny business cards. The cardstock is flimsy with a glossy finish, and they want to fly out of the hand, especially if you favor the bridge shuffle. I can kinda compare it to "laminating" resume paper with packing tape.
Final difference: cost. The authentic deck was $47 plus shipping. The counterfeit was $28. Pretty self explanatory.
I guess I'm saying buy from Amazon at your own risk. My friend said the listing for the deck disappeared from the site as soon as she ordered the deck. If you can buy directly from the creator, do it. It might be more expensive, but it's worth it for the quality and supporting an artist with a small business.
Now...I just need to figure out what I can do with the fake. Maybe decoupage a storage box with it to put some decks in.