Categorizing Cards

Hand-painted British herald for a carnival fortune teller and psychic reader, 1980s

Postcards, arcade cards, cigarette cards, gum cards, trade cards, and trading cards are loosely defined terms, but since they are found as illustration throughout Your Wate and Fate, a simple shuffle is in order:

• Postcards: images and/or text printed on flexible card stock and suitable to be sent through the mails, postcards evolved out of private mailing cards, and by 1905 they had become an international craze. See more on identifying and dating them at this Mystic Tea Room page on Dating Tea Room Postcards.