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An earlier looking example of Marvin & Casler Co.'s Palm Reader just sold at the Cedar Point Auction, Cleveland, USA.

On tonight’s Antique Roadshow, a lady had an Arnold Palm Reader version she had had for 30 years. Valued at £600 and has the holes like all previous versions mentioned. A lot of machines were scrapped back in the day.....

I have a couple of Ahrens palm readers.

Wow a matching pair... If I remember, you hoped to get a museum going, is it running yet?

@Treefrog...Museums were banned along with everything else It's nearing completion and I will be up and running as soon as The Govt. allows me.

I have one in the US like the one a previous post showed with the narrow cabinet. Coin chute plate markings included Patented May 28, 1907 and August 12, 1919. It has four types of cards, but no marking of the printer/maker on old cards in it, but newer cards have 'Munves 1944 copyright', and I see it in a Munves catalog where he was selling refurbished units 1939-1944.

I saw some references attributing the machine to ESCO in the '30s. Patents show it was conceived by Marvin & Casler Co in 1905. There was a version patented in 1919 by Harry Marvin which is the narrow simpler four slot version compared to the 1905 design. Related Patents are #854752 filed 1905 and #1312860 filed 1919 for the four slot version, if that helps any.

Some good info there - thanks! I'd love to see your version.

It is the same one that used to be in Mike&Todd's collection, I purchased it in 2011 and is shown in one of the u-tube vids in the fortune teller section of this site.

Oh yes, I see it. Thank you for that.

Hi - the "Know Thyself" Arnold machines were made in Southend by my Great Grandfather and his sons (one of whom was my grandfather whose shed contained a drawer full of parts from decommissioned machines that I used to spend hours looking at in the late 60s/early 70s!). Would love to see one or even buy one - but no idea how that would happen. Any ideas? M Arnold

to the site.
It is always good to hear from folk with an ancestral connection to the vintage British amusement machine industry.
I've sent you a message from one of our members who says he'd be happy to show you his Arnold Palm Reader.
I'm afraid it won't be for sale though...

I met Arnold Palmreader once, opening a Crazy Golf course at Whitby...

The narrow cabinet version of this machine had 4 chutes for cards, 3 of the chutes had normal fortunes and came with card types A,B,C,D,E,F and/or color coded for the first 3 chutes and the 4th chute always used a 'White Card' with no letter. I found one reference that "Based on the length of the hand a card is dispensed from one of 4 options, improper hand position or no hand present always selects one of the 4 options in case a warning card is desired" I believe that is the 'White Card'. I have collected over time colored cards with letters for my machine but none of the white cards. I am looking for any photos of the text on the fortune side of the white cards that is readable. So far I only have one example but it is only 1/4 of the card although some text on that seems to be in line with thinking it is the error card. I want to find some text examples to see if I can have a batch of these white cards made if anyone has a link or photo of one.

Refreshing this post. Still looking to see if anyone has one of the white cards, picture of one, or info on what text should be on it for the automation palm reader. This is the non-lettered 'white' error card and I only have a portion of one to go by, and an auction photo that does not have the resolution to blow up and read it. I want to reprint a stack of these if I can find what the text should be, hopefully without having to just make up something for it. There was a white card in the machine sold at auction in the Nov 18, 2019 Cedar Point Auction in Cleveland OH, but I don't know what collector or dealer might have purchased it to inqure about a close up photo of the card.

I’ve got a few thousand original palm cards that I’m due to put on fleabay soon. I think the text was similar across all of the card dispensing machines.

Hi, Dingles were looking for some a few weeks back. Don't know if they ever got sorted. Might be worth a phone call?

sentimental salvage wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 8:06 am I think the text was similar across all of the card dispensing machines.

The Marvin & Casler (Mystic Fingers) Palm Reader's cards are unique to that machine, as the unusual mechanism required four different sets (green, yellow, blue, white) to be dispensed according to the pins' palm 'reading' (as Tim explained above).


As he said, the white cards (which he's missing) appear to have carried an 'error' message, presumably admonishing the punter to operate the machine correctly for a true reading. This was a clever way of convincing the public that it did something more mysterious and sophisticated than random card dispensing. John Brenner later used the same idea to good effect on his fortune tellers. From the fragment of card Tim has, you can almost guess what it said...

... you have attempted ...to misuse this apparatus... and trick it into a ...false reading, but... you have met your ...match because this ...automaton does not ...produce readings unless you place your... hands with accuracy ...on the palm plate as instructed...

Presumably the cards were printed by (or for) Marvin & Casler.

All the other palm readers we've discussed here were British-made and used cards printed in the UK.

Pennymachine, thank you for the clarification. Actually one of the patents for this machine note an incorrect hand placement or no hand placement activates the right most column allowing the operator to receive a card noting that. Munves did reprint cards as he refurbished and sold the automation palm reader. I have some of those NOS cards of a few of the color types, but I have not found any of the 'white' error card, so I don't think Munves reprinted it. Most machines have a full card or partial card example of each type tacked above each card tube, so even if nobody has cards in the tube they may have an example, or partial example like I did to photo. If nobody can locate one, then as you note, I will use a guess at the missing text to re-create one.

Also, if any forum members are good at guessing and want to treat this as a puzzle, feel free to try and fill in the missing parts of the 1st half of the card.
Pennymachines did a good job at filling in the missing text for the 2nd half based on context.

missing text ... made a mistake, …missing text ...carefully and after …missing text...operate the machine … missing ...text
.. you have attempted ...to misuse this apparatus... and trick it into a ...false reading, but... you have met your ...match because this ...automaton does not ...produce readings unless you place your... hands with accuracy ...on the palm plate as instructed...

"Too bad, Bozo, you" made a mistake " which cost you your coin. Put in another" carefully and after "following instructions correctly this time, you idiot" operate the machine "and hope for the best. But remember," .......

You're welcome

J Peterson
Editor, USA