19th Century Victorian Coromandel Games Compendium Chess Drafts

This is a fabulous antique Victorian games compendium and tantalus, circa 1880 in date. It consists of three cut crystal liquor bottles with stoppers, a pair of engraved shot glass...

This is a beautiful antique Victorian novelty silver pommel and ebonised shaft walking stick, dated 1890. This decorative walking cane features a naturalistically sleeping cupid on ...

This is a superb antique Victorian coromandel, brass mounted and cased three decanter tantalus and games compendium, Circa 1880 in date. It was skillfully crafted in rare coromandel with cut brass mounts, three cut crystal glass decanters with stoppers, a mirrored back and a twin lidded compartment with a Bramah lock, opening to reveal a compartment containing five glasses. There is a secret base drawer with playing cards, cribbage board, dice and chips. It can be opened by pressing the disguised brass button which is just in front of the central decanter. It is a decorative piece which is also very practical, and would make a lovely gift. It is complete with the original working Bramah lock and key, which locks everything. Condition: In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 33 cm x Width 38 cm x Depth 11 cm Dimensions in inches: Height 1 foot, 1 inch x Width 1 foot, 3 inches x Depth 4 inches Coromandel wood or Calamander wood is a valuable wood from India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. It is of a hazel-brown color, with black stripes (or the other way about), very heavy and hard. It is also known as Macassar Ebony or variegated ebony and is closely related to genuine ebony, but is obtained from different species in the same genus; one of these is Diospyros quaesita Thwaites, from Sri Lanka. The name Calamander comes from the local sinhalese name, 'kalu-medhiriya', which means dark chamber; referring to the characteristic ebony black wood. Coromandel wood has been logged to extinction over the last 2 to 3 hundred years and is no longer available for new work in any quantity. Furniture in coromandel is so expensive and so well looked after that even recycling it is an unlikely source. A substitute, Macassar Ebony, has similar characteristics and to the untrained eye is nearly the same but it lacks the depth of colour seen in genuine Coromandel. Bramah is London's oldest security company. Established at 124 Piccadilly, London in 1784, and today based in Marylebone, London and Romford, Essex. Bramah made their first lock in 1784 and the patent was awarded in 1787. The designer was Joseph Bramah. Joseph Bramah was a leading inventor of the industrial revolution, patenting over 18 new ideas, including a new valve for the water closet (toilet), the hydraulic pump, a fountain pen, and a fire engine. Bramah also introduced a beer hand pump for use at the bar, to prevent fluid loss when barmen went downstairs to pour a new jug! Due to the quality of his manufacturing, his name became a by-word amongst British Engineers for engineering excellence and many of his inventions are on display in the Science Museum in London. You can find one of his original toilets still working in Osborne House, Queen Victoria's home on the Isle of Wight. The Bramah lock was unique and advanced property and valuables protection enormously. Indeed it was 50 years ahead of any Chubb lock...

This is a high quality antique Victorian coromandel porcelain inset adjustable book slide, by Betjemann's, 19th century and circa 1870 in date. It is made of stunnning coromandel...

This is a fabulous antique Victorian mahogany, satinwood and marquetry games table in the manner of Edwards & Roberts, circa 1860 in date. It is made of beautiful flame mahogany and satinwood with elegant satinwood inlaid and penwork floral and foliate decoration of ribbons, bellfowers and garlands.. The shaped hinged top opens to reveal a fabulous green baize lined gaming interior for playing cards, above a frieze fitted with a drawer and decorated by a beautiful classical urn. The table is raised on elegant square tapering legs terminating in spade feet. It is an elegant piece which will enhance a special room in your home. THE BOTANICAL NAME FOR THE MAHOGANY THIS ITEM IS MADE OF IS SWIETENIA MACROPHYLLA AND THIS TYPE OF MAHOGANY IS NOT SUBJECT TO CITES REGULATION. Condition: In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned and polished in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 74 x Width 89 x Depth 48 Dimensions in inches: Height 2 foot, 5 inches x Width 2 foot, 11 inches x Depth 1 foot, 7 inches Marquetry is decorative artistry where pieces of material (such as wood, pewter or brass silver) of different colours are inserted into surface wood veneer to form intricate patterns such as scrolls or flowers. The technique of veneered marquetry had its inspiration in 16th century Florence. Marquetry elaborated upon Florentine techniques of inlaying solid marble slabs with designs formed of fitted marbles, jaspers and semi-precious stones. This work, called opere di commessi, has medieval parallels in Central Italian "Cosmati"-work of inlaid marble floors, altars and columns. The technique is known in English as pietra dura, for the "hardstones" used: onyx, jasper, cornelian, lapis lazuli and colored marbles. In Florence, the Chapel of the Medici at San Lorenzo is completely covered in a colored marble facing using this demanding jig-sawn technique. Techniques of wood marquetry were developed in Antwerp and other Flemish centers of luxury cabinet-making during the early 16th century. The craft was imported full-blown to France after the mid-seventeenth century, to create furniture of unprecedented luxury being made at the royal manufactory of the Gobelins, charged with providing furnishings to decorate Versailles and the other royal residences of Louis XIV. Early masters of French marquetry were the Fleming Pierre Golle and his son-in-law, André-Charles Boulle, who founded a dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinet-makers (ébénistes) and gave his name to a technique of marquetry employing brass with pewter in arabesque or intricately foliate designs. Edwards & Roberts The firm Edwards & Roberts was one of the best English antique furniture cabinet makers of the second half of the eighteenth century. The company was founded in 1845 and by 1854 was trading as ‘Edwards & Roberts’, 21 Wardour Street, Antique and Modern Cabinet...

This is a fabulous and rare high quality antique Victorian mahogany metamorphic triple top games table for cards and roulette, circa 1870 in date. The hinged triple top opens to re...

Heading : Victorian coromandel games compendium Date : c1880 Period : Victoria Origin : England Decoration : Contains: Chess, Draughts and Backgammon board, all chess pieces mounted ...

The ‘Royal Cabinet of Games’ by Charles Henry, 22 King Street, Manchester, constructed in figured walnut with coromandel edging, enclosing various games including chess, backgammon &...

Antique late-19th century Victorian walnut cased games compendium, the interior comprising a chess set, draughts, dominoes, dice, cribbage board with markers, leather bound boards for games, playing cards, droughts counters, a dice shaker...

Antique late-19th century Victorian walnut cased games compendium, the interior comprising a chess set, draughts, dominoes, dice, cribbage board with markers, leather bound boards fo...

The domed case constructed in a well marked Coromandel, with protective brass guard strips, having a rising and lockable lid and a gated front, with a Satinwood interior, revealing t...

This is a high quality Games Compendium, complete with over 8 individual games, all in its original hardwood storage box with a hinged lid. All the pieces are well made and complete. The box is made of a jointed hardwood, possibly red walnut and is a high quality piece in its own right. The box has developed a lovely color and patination from use and wear. The box lid has two brass hinges and two brass loop catches to secure it closed. The interior is sectioned into different sub compartments by hardwood dividers. Many different games are included within the compendium, including; Horse racing game...