Your Fortune Postcards by Joseph Welch and Sons

From Mystic Tea Room

Revision as of 01:48, 31 October 2020

The series of fortune teller cards titled "Your Fortune" all bear the publisher's initials "JWS" on the front, followed by a number. JWS stood for Joseph Welch and Sons, a photographic publisher Portsmouth, England, from from 1864 to 1936. Joseph and his three sons, Horace, Ernest, and Claude, published nearly 4000 postcards. Most of these were view cards depicting scenic locations in the south of England and the Channel Islands.

When the postcard craze took hold, around 1905, Joseph Welch and Sons entered that field and added a limited range of topical cards, such as "Proverbs" (very similar to modern memes) and fortune telling cards. The company's early coloured cards were produced in Belgium and in Saxony, utilizing a "Trichromatic" process that resulted in a limited pallet of pastel tones. The numbering system on JWS cards was illogical and chaotic, with some cards double-numbered, but for the collectors among us, i have included the numbers here.

Tea Leaf Reading

Your Fortune postcard by Joseph Welch and Sons, circa 1907, series JWS-5, tea leaf reading. The caption reads, "A new lover now I see / A jealous lover, seems to me / At odds he'll quickly be with three."

Your Fortune postcard by Joseph Welch and Sons, circa 1907, series JWS-22, tea leaf reading. The caption reads, "Foretells a letter which contains a proposal; you will accept."

AWAITING IMAGE: Your-Fortune-Tea Leaves-A-disappointment-in-love-JWS-25

Card Reading

Your-Fortune-Cartomancy-You-will-marry-a-partner-JWS-3

Palm Reading

Your-Fortune-Palmistry-This crooked-line-tells-you-true-JWS-9

AWAITING IMAGE: Your-Fortune-Palmistry-What-you-desire-you-will-shortly-obtain-JWS-4

The Wheel of Fortune

Your-Fortune-Wheel-of-Fortune-If-To-Say-Yes-JWS-20

AWAITING IMAGE: Your-Fortune-Wheel of Fortune-To-get-a-husband-A-Happy-New-Year-JWS-18