Organizing Your Collection

I have built up a sizeable collection of tarot decks, along with a handful of oracle decks I use for various correlations and as reference material. I'm always on the lookout for good methods of protecting, storing, and organizing my collection, so here's what I've found so far.

I am a big proponent of sleeving tarot decks, particularly when it's evident that the print quality of the cards is not durable. This is a huge problem with Llewellyn decks - I've exchanged several of their decks over the years, because the print chips off the glossy card surface way, way too easily, and brand-new decks occasionally are missing chunks of an image along a card's edges. As a result, I never use a Llewellyn deck without first sleeving it, and sleeving is the first thing I do when I get a new deck. My favorite sleeves to date are these Sleeve Kings "WOTR" card sleeves.

I have not found good sleeves for most non-standard decks. I do have a Spanish deck that appears to follow standard French tarocchi dimensions, and I was able to sleeve it with a pack of these Sleeve Kings French Tarot sleeves and store it in an Ultimate Guard French Tarot case, which has since been discontinued by the manufacturer.

Until 2019, I purchased a number of deck boxes from a tabletop gaming accessories company called Ultimate Guard. They discontinued production of this case, and it is no longer available. I have, however, found numerous listings on both Amazon and AliExpress for similar boxes. These deck boxes are typically made from chipboard wrapped in textured vinyl (typically described as “PU leather” or “vegan leather” that is sewed to the chipboard. The box is then lined with a thin synthetic flocked material, which reduces friction from the cards sliding in and out of the case. The sides of the box are glued together, and the whole thing closes with a magnetic flap. These boxes may be found with different embellishments on the flap, usually either some kind of medallion, or a debossed pentagram with the word “tarot”. I haven't found any of these boxes without some kind of flap embellishment, unfortunately.

Not all deck boxes are the same, so pay close attention to the dimensions of any box you're purchasing online. A number of options on Amazon are sized perfectly for an unsleeved deck, but are much too narrow for a sleeved deck. If you don't sleeve your decks, there are some pretty cool options available.

Below is a table of deck boxes I've purchased and used with my various decks. I've linked to products on Amazon, but it's worth noting that all of these can be found on AliExpress, frequently for 20-40% less than whatever Amazon's current price happens to be. AliExpress also has products that might not be available on Amazon, or might be hard to find in stock. Expect to wait two to three weeks for your package to arrive, but the savings are worth it, and they really are good boxes for storing sleeved decks.

There are also some metal boxes I use for certain decks, but they're not a great solution - they're shipped in bubble mailers from China, so they are frequently dented, and they're made of cheap, thin steel. That said, I haven't found a better option for those decks. I've recently found a metal box that's big enough for a sleeved deck and an appropriately-sized LWB, so I might make some mini LWBs for my favorite sleeved decks.