Your Fortune Postcards by Joseph Welch and Sons

From Mystic Tea Room

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Your-Fortune-Tea Leaves-A-new-lover-JWS-5

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