I think it has to be 1672 as well. Here is the argument I made on Aeclectic a few months ago -
I think, if you look at the close-up at JC Flornoy's site
http://letarot.com/dossiers-chauds/...-1672-1872.html
the "c" must be part of a "6".
Looking closely, you can see an ascending black line on the left section of the c, where the round part joins it.
In the border, where the top of the 6 would have been, there is a discolouration/lightening of the ink, indicating that the surface is lower there than in the rest of the border. This shows that something broke away, or there is wear there. It is curved exactly where we would expect the top of the 6 to be, if we finished the line.
For the "mistake" part, Ph. Camoin is adamant that it cannot be a mistake, but the card engraver was not particularly careful, as you can see from his engraved letters at Rom's site -
http://tarotchoco.quebecblogue.com/Tarot de Marseille- ... -honneurs/
In the first card, he has made an inversion - "VALET DE DENIESR"
It is not impossible that the engraver made a mistake, but I think the date is 1672 and the story is more complicated.
Chosson was not the engraver, as you can see by looking at the initials on the Chariot, "GS". This is where the engraver usually put his initials.
Looking in D'Allemagne for known cardmakers with the initials GS, we don't find too many, or not in the right dates, but there is a "Guilhen Sallonetz" in Marseille in 1662.
Guilhen Sallonetz is mentioned with someone who seems to be his father or brother, Jacques Sallonetz, at the same time (1662).
Further in the list, there are others - Guillaume Sellon (1676-1715), Jacques Sellon (1676-1708), along with Jean-François Sellon (1676-1688) Antoine Sellon (1713-1715), and Claude-François Sellon (1730) - all in Marseille.
I am guessing that the names Sallonetz and Sellon are two forms of the same name, one in Provençal, and one in French. "Guilhen" is a Provençal form of "Guillaume" (although "Jacques" is pure French in both cases). So we are dealing with a family business that is attested from 1662-1730. Perhaps Chosson bought it after the final Sellon retired.
Thus I think we are dealing with the same people, and that there is a "GS" cardmaker in Marseille at the right time. So, it could be Guillaume Sellon who made the cards; it could be that Chosson inherited or bought the plates (this has happened before), and changed the name on the two of Deniers to reflect that.
The date problem might reflect either wear on the old plates (maybe 60 or 70 years old when Chosson got them), or a very early weakness because the engraver corrected the top of the 6 from going into the margin by recarving it a little smaller and thinner - it thus might have broken off very early.
There is a problem stylistically though. This Tarot de Marseille is "TdMII" by Depaulis' taxonomy - the Cupid is going to the right as is not blindfolded, the figures in the Sun are two little boys, not a boy and a girl (or youths of opposite gender), the figure in the World is also a "sexy" female, etc. (like in Conver).
So if this tarot was engraved in Marseille in 1672, then it is a very early example of the Tarot de Marseille II type.
Finally, I do think the date was 1672, and the plates are older than Chosson.
Ross