My sweet husband gifted me this antique deck of fortune telling cards for my upcoming birthday! It’s good to have a hubby who really knows you – I’m lucky.
In trying to research them, I found that Milton Bradley first published them in 1908. Around 1910 in the UK, they were published by Thomas de la Rue & Co Ltd. The original artwork is by the artist Hylton Cock. The 1908 Milton Bradley deck came in a darker orange box and was titled, “The Wizard Fortune Telling Cards” with cream-colored backs with the inside-the-box directions printed vertically inside instead of horizontally, like this deck of mine. This leads me to believe that this is a later edition. Best guess would be between 1910 – 1915.
The images show various depictions of Victorian (or perhaps Edwardian) life. There are no numbers or playing card references. My deck contains all 33 original cards — 32 illustrated and one left blank to represent the person receiving the reading. The names of the cards are as follows:
– Love’s labour lost
– A dark lady
– A flirtation
– Success in love
– A wealthy lady
– Business prosperity
– A Lover
– Low spirits
– A journey
– Strange news
– A countryman
– A Gentleman of high degree
– A fair young man
– Gossip
– He cometh not
– A dark man
– A secret transaction
– Destitution
– A love letter
– A designing woman
– Money
– Sickness
– A wedding
– A present
– Treachery
– The House
– A true friend
– A run of luck
– A fair lady
– The law
– A surprise
– A birth
– “blank card”