The following advert appeared in Exchange & Mart in 1936:

UNLUCKY AT GAMBLING?

If so why not experiment by buying a pack of Surrealist Forecast Cards? Designed by a famous mystic artist and author, they were originally intended as a joke, but he found that they picked the winners in his case, and in many others. Can be used for any race, anywhere, any year, and the same pack will last for years. These cards are not guaranteed, as they re-act differently in the case of each individual, but they do enable you to conduct an interesting and perhaps profitable experiment with luck. Obviously, if they were infallible we would be so rich that we wouldn’t need to advertise them. So we make this very fair offer. Buy a pack with full instructions for 5/-. If you find them to be of no use to you your money will be refunded without question or argument.

SURREALIST FORECAST CARDS,

261, Lauderdale Mansions, London, W.9

The “mystic artist and author” was Austin Osman Spare, and a rare photograph of a set of the cards (now worth considerably more than 5/- or 25p) can be seen here.