Cartomancy Postcards by Fred C. Lounsbury
In 1907 Fred C. Lounsbury of the Crescent Embossing Company of Paterson, New Jersey, was fully engaged in the postcard craze that had overtaken America and the rest of the world. Known primarily for his patriotic and holiday chromlithographic cards, he branched out into several notably magical and divinatory sets of cards, including a set on Good Luck curios, a set on Tea Leaf Reading (on display at my Mystic Tea Room website), a set on Palmistry, one on readings made with Dominoes and Dice, and a set called "Good Fortunes as told by Cards." Due to the size of his press, every Lounsbury set was issued in a group of eight cards, or multiples thereof.
Lounsbury's cartomancy set was officially marked as Crescent series 2037, numbers 1 through 8, and the cards are sequentially numbered as such on their faces. The word "Crescent" -- the name of his company -- was symbolized by a waning crescent moon, forming the letter "C."
