This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/19/2018
200 Ivory Chips in Handsome Rosewood Case. New York: George W. Williams Maker, ca. 1850. Exceedingly handsome, with 31 inlaid brass stars and inlaid brass tiger on lid. Maker’s name and address on two leather bands across lid’s interior. Red, white, and blue, chips match the red, white and blue piping, giving the box a patriotic theme. Lock and key. 15 ¼ x 10 ¼”. Minor scratches, otherwise excellent. Sold with a license for $40 to operate a Faro game from May to June in 1894 in the city of Billings, Montana, and three reproduction faro decks. The inlaid brass tiger represents the widely held nickname of the game of Faro, “Bucking the Tiger” and the inlaid brass stars the number of stars on the American flag, dating the box to 1850-1857. Williams was a noted New York box-maker and gambling supply manufacturer of the mid-nineteenth century who also built dealing boxes, game boards, roulette wheels, and supplied hand-painted layouts. His work was always of the highest quality.