Table game
Category
Sports equipment, games and pastimes
Date
circa 1910
Materials
Wood, metal, cardboard and felt
Measurements
376 mm (width); 167 mm (height); 376 mm (depth)
Place of origin
France
Order this imageCollection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 659978
Summary
A horse race game (circa 1910) in its original box, which has wooden sides and cardboard on the top and bottom, all covered with black textured paper. The box lid lifts off completely to reveal the game fitted into the base. The game consists of a green felt-covered base which has a large circular hole cut out, which contains a central circle (also covered in green felt) surrounded by a gap into which is set a red-painted metal ring. Three horses 'run' on each side of this ring. At each corner of the game, connecting the base, ring and central circle, is a silver-coloured metal arch which has three uprights and a horizontal bar across the top (which resembles the bar at the end of a Roman scroll). At the outside edge of the arch is an 'S' shaped scroll, possibly to make it more secure. In the middle of the central circle is a wide, shallow silver-coloured metal trophy-type cup on a foot. At the front edge of the circle is a silver-coloured metal post with a moulded sign at the top which reads 'BUT'. At the left-hand edge of the base is a short silver-coloured metal post. The horses and riders are made from moulded metal and painted (all the horses shades of brown, the riders clothes red, green, blue and yellow, each numbered (1 to 6)), then attached by thick wire posts to the mechanism under the central circle. This mechanism is operated by moving a metal bar across a slot in the front of the box base, using a silver-coloured painted metal knob. A silver-coloured metal plate surrounding this slot has a dot-and-line border stamped in it with the words 'JEU DE COURSE/ SYSTEME BREVETE.S.G.D.G.'. There are a few holes in the box and felt, and the paint on the riders is chipped in places. Total number of items is two