Samoana Fortune Telling Cards

Sonoma, California: Noolcam Company, 1950. Good. Dust soiling, toning. A little water staining to box.. A complete set of "Samoana Fortune Telling Cards", a delightfully kitschy 1950s parlor game created for the American market featuring a pin-up style Samoan woman on the box and claiming to be "founded on South Pacific Native Symbols". This set is complete with all forty-five (45) cards, printed directions sheet, and illustrated box. To play, one person shuffles the deck and another pulls cards and displays them in different "variations" to tell the first person's fortune. The directions sheet tells the meaning of each card's symbol, such as: Peacock (Pride); Devil (Calamity); Volcano (Excitement); and Dog (Fidelity). A number of the cards are clearly more American symbols than traditional Samoan ("Factory Chimneys"...?!), but somehow that makes the deck more charming, and paints a picture of the kinds of people who would have played with the set (i.e., Americans enchanted by the West's exoticized ideal of the South Pacific, not actual Samoans). Also includes possible "combinations", which foretell events such as marriage (when the cards 15, 30, and 11 appear in a row). Each card measures approx. 3.5" by 2.5", the directions sheet measures approx. 10.75" by 4", and illustrated box measures approx. 3.5" by 2.5" by 0.5