Burl Walnut Fitted Games Box w/ Cribbage Board, Other Contents, c.1850

Antiques : Game Box : Burl Walnut

 

Beautiful Victorian games box, with striking burl walnut graining, and a fitted removable burl walnut and brass cribbage board, dating c.1850. It has a brass inlay to the lid and to the lock escutcheon; there is no key. At the base, the box measures 12.1" by 9.3" and is 2.6" high. The cribbage board measures 7.0" by 2.2" and is .5" high.

The box has nine compartments formed by a permanent tray that is built in to the box itself; 3 of the compartments are underneath the cribbage board. The compartments contain 2 Goodall "Pall Mall" whist markers that are not contemporary to the box but are in keeping, an assortment of ivory/bone counters, 4 original matching ivory/bone pegs for the cribbage board, 4 dice, and a double deck of vintage playing cards printed by Carta Mundi in Belgium and published in 1978 by Intercol of London in conjunction with the Royal Pavilion at Brighton.

The decks of cards are full decks, each with 52 cards, plus 2 jokers and an insert card. Called "The Regency Deck," the court cards are reproductions of classical caricatures by great British artists, including Hogarth, Cruikshank, Gilray and Heath, the originals of which hang in the Royal Pavilion. The backs of the two decks have images of the Royal Pavilion as it looked in the middle of the 19th century.

The box is in excellent condition, except for a hairline crack to the underside of the lid, and a more serious crack in the bed of the compartment tray underneath the cribbage board. Probably as a result of the crack at the base, the box “rocks” when placed on a hard surface, and so pads have been added to two corners of the underside to eliminate the sway. The cribbage board is in exceptional condition, and both decks of cards are “as new.” The whist markers are in excellent but used condition.

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Item ID: T000002