A very fine and rare mid nineteenth century cribbage board with a sliding top of ivory and horn with Vizagapatam penwork boarders, the interior of sandalwood is divided into three sections, for cards and the central one for pegs. The box sides are of fine blond porcupine quills with further bands of ivory, the whole raised on carved ivory lion paws.
Length 9 1/2in - 24cm
Depth 4in - 10cm
Height 2in - 5cm
Vizagapatam, India, circa 1850
A near identical box with the same quality quills and use of materials is shown here http://www.hygra.com/sb/quillbasket.htm
Cribbage, or crib, is a card game traditionally for two players, but commonly played with three, four or more, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points. Cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribbage board used for scorekeeping, the eponymous crib or box (a separate hand counting for the dealer),
two distinct scoring stages (the play and the show) and a unique
scoring system including points for groups of cards that total fifteen.
According to John Aubrey, cribbage was created by the English poet Sir John Suckling in the early 17th century, as a derivation of the game "noddy". While noddy has disappeared, crib has survived, virtually unchanged, as one of the most popular games in the English-speaking world.[1]
The objective of the game is to be the first player to score a target
number of points, typically 61 or 121. Points are scored for card
combinations that add up to fifteen, and for pairs, triples,
quadruples, runs and flushes. Source : Wikipedia
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