This is an interesting set because of its links to an astrologer, palmist, and yoga master, who called himself "Ceylon's World-Famed Seer". He was actually called Cyrus D. F. Abayakoon, "Asteiro" being his trading name. And I suppose I could get away with trying to convince you all that it was pronounced "Ice-Tea-Ro"...?
Now he was born in 1912, and in Ceylon, and in the 1960s he was based in Fulham, South West London. He was just a simple astrologer until he had a vision, and predicted Gandhi`s assassination in 1948. However it was his prediction of President Kennedy`s assassination in 1963 that really brought his name into the public eye, and probably led to this set.
This appears in both our vintage and modern British Trade Index, and under "F" for "Fine Fare", even though it is clearly stated that the main issuing company was Allied Bakeries. There is some additional information needed here, because Allied Bakeries started out when one man, from a bakery background, bought out several large bakers and their goodwill. Then, in 1963, they bought the supermarket chain of Fine Fare. Obviously they retained some of the products, hence Fine Fare Tea. The company is now known as Associated British Foods, and it also owns Ovaltine and Twinings Tea.
The original British Trade Index listing, in book two out of four, is :
SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC CARDS. Sm. 68 x 35. Black and brown, headed "Your Fortune in a Tea Cup". Unnd. (12) Signs of the Zodiac. Folder issued.
Now I am not sure where that title comes from, for the front clearly says "Your Fortune in a Tea Cup". In fact the entry in our updated two volume British Trade Index the description says :
YOUR FORTUNE IN A TEA CUP. 1965.. Signs of the Zodiac cards. 68 x 35. Black and brown. Unnd. (12) Signs of the Zodiac. Folder issued.
In both of these it states that the colours are `black and brown`, but this is not quite right, for the cards are all different, the fronts and backs having coloured wording in either red, green, pink, orange, purple or blue.
Also a bit more about the folder, for it was not just an empty folder in which to stick the cards, apparently you had to collect the cards and send them back with some personal details about your birth, and in exchange you would receive a horoscope drawn up for you by Asteiro. So technically the "Your Fortune in a Tea Cup" was not a way to tell fortunes by divination and by the shape of the symbols that the leaves created inside of the cup, it was instead that by putting this tea in your cup you would receive your fortune, foretold.
With my tarot hat on, I am really not sure why the word `fortune` came to be connected with horoscopes or with telling your future in any way, for not every card represents a fortune, or even money at all, most are just guidance as to what it is thought may lie in store for you in the next stage of your life. And I know, some people do not believe that the turn of a random card can suggest anything at all. Yet often if you are trapped in a dilemma, a card will pop up that seems to suggest a way forward to your fevered mind, and nudges you gently into action.