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Fortune-telling was so fashionable in the first half of the 20th century that some machines, such as The Gypsy Fortune Teller, advertised the subject and did not actually offer a fortune. Each penny played on The Gypsy Fortune Teller dispensed a ball of gum, with prizes for winning suits available behind the counter. Other fortune-tellers kept pace with new technologies. The countertop Futura fortune machine illuminates its predictions from a roll of 35 mm film inside, visible through a lighted window atop a plastic “crystal ball.” All objects are courtesy of Joe Welch American Antique Museum in San Bruno, California. "The Automatic Age: Coin-Operated Machines" is on display, pre-security, in the International Terminal. http://bit.ly/CoinOperated This image was posted on August 30, 2018.

This post mentions the following things involved with the SFO Museum collection: