Page 25 - June 2018 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
P. 25
successful life. Games like this, whether guiding players toward
success or around the country, generally feature refined illustrations
against pastel-hued grounds.
Pachisi, a strategic race game originating in medieval India,
was initially played, with cowrie shells, on boards shaped like
symmetrical crosses. Handmade, squared versions, which apparently
reached the United States in the mid-1800s, were known as
Patcheesi, then Parcheesi. Since then, its boards feature classic
cross- and circle race designs, with circles split into four by
symmetrical crosses.
Their resulting geometrics may create intriguing interplays of
light and dark that, to some, evoke the charm of pieced quilts. In
addition, all Parcheesi boards feature four wide paths leading to
large, central “homes ” the endgame that all players race to reach.
Though many of these “homes” repeat the boards’ basic palettes,
others feature more striking shades associated with particular
Polychrome Double-sided Checkers/Chinese
cultures, like Pennsylvania German or Nova Scotian. Other Checkers Game Board, checkers painted in black
Parcheesi “homes” depict vibrant florals, lacy designs, ivory inlay, and white with gray border, Chinese checkers in
or intricate marquetry. red, green, gray, yellow, blue, pink, and white,
The Checkered Game of Life, which the Milton Bradley 19 1/2 x 17 1/2 in., America, late 19th century,
Painted Pine “Kitty” Game Board, 26 x 20 inches, Company introduced in 1860, was the first popular, published realized $861 in 2018.
realized $338 in 2019 parlor game in America. Rather than reward players with happiness photo: Skinner, Inc. skinnerinc.com
photo: Skinner, Inc. skinnerinc.com or heaven, it promoted values like honesty, honor, and perseverance
as they progressed from infancy toward “Happy Old Age.”
Soon after, McLoughlin Brothers, Inc. introduced the capitalistic Game of the District Messenger Boy
(1886), in which 2-4 lowly working lads climbed up corporate, ladder-like squares, striving to become Heads of
the Firm. The Game of the Telegraph Boy, or Merit Rewarded (1888), also celebrated the American Dream.
Through hard work and virtue, messenger boys raced to became presidents of their company.
Until the advent of the radio, parlor board games remained the most popular form of family entertainment. In
fact, newspapers, including the 1899 Chanute Daily Tribune (Kansas), urged readers to purchase games so “there
will be no more long evenings.” Yet many fans, instead of purchasing bright, multi-hued, chromolithographed
ready-mades, constructed one-of-a-kind visual delights for themselves.
Uncle Wiggley, Wahoo, Sorry!, Monopoly,
Twentieth-century commercial game boards, like and
Candyland, abound. Yet many collectors, instead, are drawn to older, well-cherished ones. Some seek rare, fragile,
hand-colored, hand stitched cloth boards that date from the early 19th century. Some focus on printed mid-19th
century travel boards or hand painted, red, white, and blue patriotic models. Many prefer boards of a single game,
possibly Patcheesi, Backgammon, or Nine Men’s
Morris boards. Others seek double-sided boards featur-
ing, say, Chinese Checkers on one side with checkers on
the other.
Most collectors, whatever their preferences, are enticed Marquetry Inlaid Game Board, in dark and light
by the striking visual appeal of vintage game boards. Those hardwoods bordered by an elaborate chain and
geometric border with applied edge molding,
whose static designs are personalized with unusual or highly 20 x 20 inches, late 19th century, realized $197
contrasting colors, bold hand-painted graphics, or in 2018. photo: Skinner, Inc. skinnerinc.com
sentimental scenes amid lavish artistic flourishes, are most
desirable of all.
Some favor vintage game boards in pristine condition.
Others prefer ones bearing signs of age and honest-to-
goodness use. Though warping, staining, grime, or
mildew detracts from their value, many find original
surface-shrinkage, splits, scratches, crackling, or fading
The Game of the District Messenger Boy, a typical
poignantly appealing. After all, with a bit of imagination, roll-and-move track board game, was one of the first based
these well-used charmers evoke actual people, players of on materialism, McLoughlin Brothers
yesteryear. photo: worthpoint.com
Interior decorators, art connoisseurs, and fans of
American folk art, country primitives, or quality Americana value vintage game boards, as well. Unrelated to their
function, these dazzling, minimalist, geometric pieces, when wall-hung, are cherished as works of art.
Vintage game board, depending on their age, rarity, visual appeal, and condition, generally command from,
several hundred to several thousand dollars each. Signed ones featuring untouched original surfaces, unusual
palettes, vivid graphics, multiple borders, high patina, as well as overall, age-appropriate crazing, are most
collectible of all.
Melody Amsel-Arieli, an Israeli-American raised on a New Jersey farm, grew up amid cows, corn, and collectibles. In addition to Red- and Black-painted Double-sided Baseball
writing countless magazine articles, she has also authored Between Galicia and Hungary: The Jews of Stropkov ( Avotaynu) and Jewish Game Board, one side representing a minimalist
Lives: Britain 1750-1950 (Pen & Sword). Visit her at amselbird.com baseball diamond with black bases and pitcher’s
mound and incised lines on an orange/red ground,
An 18th century South the other side with a checkerboard,
German or Austrian 14 1/4 x 13 3/4 inches, America,
Polychrome Painted Games late 19th century, realized $1,845 in 2018.
Board, its exterior for chess photo: Skinner, Inc. www.skinnerinc.com
and Nine Men’s Morris, its
interior for backgammon or
tric-trac with painted floral
motifs, secured by an iron Title image:
clasp, 73.5cm long (when The Checkered Game of Life, using an 8 x 8
open), 36.5cm wide (when grid to move from “infancy” to the “happy old age”
closed), Stock Reference: of 50 with the roll of the dice and instructions
DL 1574 Provenance: to advance or fall back depending upon where
Major European Chess. you land.
Courtesy Luke Honey Ltd. photo: L. Ciompi Collection and virtue
photo: lukehoney.co.uk
June 2019 23
success or around the country, generally feature refined illustrations
against pastel-hued grounds.
Pachisi, a strategic race game originating in medieval India,
was initially played, with cowrie shells, on boards shaped like
symmetrical crosses. Handmade, squared versions, which apparently
reached the United States in the mid-1800s, were known as
Patcheesi, then Parcheesi. Since then, its boards feature classic
cross- and circle race designs, with circles split into four by
symmetrical crosses.
Their resulting geometrics may create intriguing interplays of
light and dark that, to some, evoke the charm of pieced quilts. In
addition, all Parcheesi boards feature four wide paths leading to
large, central “homes ” the endgame that all players race to reach.
Though many of these “homes” repeat the boards’ basic palettes,
others feature more striking shades associated with particular
Polychrome Double-sided Checkers/Chinese
cultures, like Pennsylvania German or Nova Scotian. Other Checkers Game Board, checkers painted in black
Parcheesi “homes” depict vibrant florals, lacy designs, ivory inlay, and white with gray border, Chinese checkers in
or intricate marquetry. red, green, gray, yellow, blue, pink, and white,
The Checkered Game of Life, which the Milton Bradley 19 1/2 x 17 1/2 in., America, late 19th century,
Painted Pine “Kitty” Game Board, 26 x 20 inches, Company introduced in 1860, was the first popular, published realized $861 in 2018.
realized $338 in 2019 parlor game in America. Rather than reward players with happiness photo: Skinner, Inc. skinnerinc.com
photo: Skinner, Inc. skinnerinc.com or heaven, it promoted values like honesty, honor, and perseverance
as they progressed from infancy toward “Happy Old Age.”
Soon after, McLoughlin Brothers, Inc. introduced the capitalistic Game of the District Messenger Boy
(1886), in which 2-4 lowly working lads climbed up corporate, ladder-like squares, striving to become Heads of
the Firm. The Game of the Telegraph Boy, or Merit Rewarded (1888), also celebrated the American Dream.
Through hard work and virtue, messenger boys raced to became presidents of their company.
Until the advent of the radio, parlor board games remained the most popular form of family entertainment. In
fact, newspapers, including the 1899 Chanute Daily Tribune (Kansas), urged readers to purchase games so “there
will be no more long evenings.” Yet many fans, instead of purchasing bright, multi-hued, chromolithographed
ready-mades, constructed one-of-a-kind visual delights for themselves.
Uncle Wiggley, Wahoo, Sorry!, Monopoly,
Twentieth-century commercial game boards, like and
Candyland, abound. Yet many collectors, instead, are drawn to older, well-cherished ones. Some seek rare, fragile,
hand-colored, hand stitched cloth boards that date from the early 19th century. Some focus on printed mid-19th
century travel boards or hand painted, red, white, and blue patriotic models. Many prefer boards of a single game,
possibly Patcheesi, Backgammon, or Nine Men’s
Morris boards. Others seek double-sided boards featur-
ing, say, Chinese Checkers on one side with checkers on
the other.
Most collectors, whatever their preferences, are enticed Marquetry Inlaid Game Board, in dark and light
by the striking visual appeal of vintage game boards. Those hardwoods bordered by an elaborate chain and
geometric border with applied edge molding,
whose static designs are personalized with unusual or highly 20 x 20 inches, late 19th century, realized $197
contrasting colors, bold hand-painted graphics, or in 2018. photo: Skinner, Inc. skinnerinc.com
sentimental scenes amid lavish artistic flourishes, are most
desirable of all.
Some favor vintage game boards in pristine condition.
Others prefer ones bearing signs of age and honest-to-
goodness use. Though warping, staining, grime, or
mildew detracts from their value, many find original
surface-shrinkage, splits, scratches, crackling, or fading
The Game of the District Messenger Boy, a typical
poignantly appealing. After all, with a bit of imagination, roll-and-move track board game, was one of the first based
these well-used charmers evoke actual people, players of on materialism, McLoughlin Brothers
yesteryear. photo: worthpoint.com
Interior decorators, art connoisseurs, and fans of
American folk art, country primitives, or quality Americana value vintage game boards, as well. Unrelated to their
function, these dazzling, minimalist, geometric pieces, when wall-hung, are cherished as works of art.
Vintage game board, depending on their age, rarity, visual appeal, and condition, generally command from,
several hundred to several thousand dollars each. Signed ones featuring untouched original surfaces, unusual
palettes, vivid graphics, multiple borders, high patina, as well as overall, age-appropriate crazing, are most
collectible of all.
Melody Amsel-Arieli, an Israeli-American raised on a New Jersey farm, grew up amid cows, corn, and collectibles. In addition to Red- and Black-painted Double-sided Baseball
writing countless magazine articles, she has also authored Between Galicia and Hungary: The Jews of Stropkov ( Avotaynu) and Jewish Game Board, one side representing a minimalist
Lives: Britain 1750-1950 (Pen & Sword). Visit her at amselbird.com baseball diamond with black bases and pitcher’s
mound and incised lines on an orange/red ground,
An 18th century South the other side with a checkerboard,
German or Austrian 14 1/4 x 13 3/4 inches, America,
Polychrome Painted Games late 19th century, realized $1,845 in 2018.
Board, its exterior for chess photo: Skinner, Inc. www.skinnerinc.com
and Nine Men’s Morris, its
interior for backgammon or
tric-trac with painted floral
motifs, secured by an iron Title image:
clasp, 73.5cm long (when The Checkered Game of Life, using an 8 x 8
open), 36.5cm wide (when grid to move from “infancy” to the “happy old age”
closed), Stock Reference: of 50 with the roll of the dice and instructions
DL 1574 Provenance: to advance or fall back depending upon where
Major European Chess. you land.
Courtesy Luke Honey Ltd. photo: L. Ciompi Collection and virtue
photo: lukehoney.co.uk
June 2019 23
