Fortune Teller - no. 119

Rose "The Reader" Gold - with rose gold shawl

In swirling shades that evoke the rich textiles of Romany tradition, Rose Gold's ghost vessel captures the mystique of Victorian-era fortune telling at Stourbridge Fair. Shimmering with deep maroons or crimsons, woven through with black or rose gold accents from her shawl that catch the light like the coins that once crossed her palm. Her red eyes seem to hold the same knowing look that read fortunes in drops of ale and scattered pebbles.

Rose Gold's story is woven through four decades of Stourbridge Fair, from 1825 to 1865. Her tent, they say, was sought out by merchants seeking profit, scholars seeking wisdom, and lovers seeking hope. But it was at the Rutland Arms where her true predictions were made, reading fortunes in the dregs of ale tankards and the shifting shadows of candlelight. She predicted the great fire of 1849 six months before it happened, they say, and her warning saved many of the inn's most precious treasures. Some whisper she knew the date of her own death, marking it with a chalk X on the inn's cellar door a year before she passed.

In life, Rose kept the secrets of Cambridge's citizens - both town and gown - and in death, her spirit maintains that confidence. Her ghost vessel carries the warmth of firelight and the mystery of prophecy, a tribute to those travelers who brought color and insight to Cambridge's streets. They say that on fair days, when the morning light catches her copper eyes just right, glimpses of the future can still be seen in their depths - though whether these visions are blessing or curse, only Rose knows for certain.