13 cribbage boards from the momma’s collection

I love to play cribbage. Those are all amazing. I never knew they had boards like those. My favorite it the rifle butt.

Those are all super neato. I never knew you had so many. Have you invested a lot of money into those or were many gifts?

4urpets, I love playing, too! I wish more people I know enjoyed playing. You don’t happen to live in the midwest, do you? The rifle butt was one of the first in the collection and got me started on this. Wish I had more info on it’s origin.
- the momma

curby,
Some of both. These boards I purchased, but I have others that were gifts. The Priest’s Powder was a deal on Ebay. It is usually valued at $300-$400, but I found it for $30! The hedgehog was another deal that a friend of mine bought for me in London. They usually go for several hundred on ebay, but when she asked the antique dealer in London about it, he told her that no one wanted the “American board” and she got it for about $50! Let me know if you happen upon any unusual boards down south…
-THE Momma

Yellow Dragon Board
I just purchased one like this for $35 what is it made with. I was told it was from the 40’s or 50’s. I purchased it because I like the design on the board. Have no idea what it is made out of or how old it is. Do you have any answers for me.
thanks
roger

Hi Roger,
I bought the Yellow Dragon Board on eBay. I think it could be bakelite and I’ve heard there is a way to test for it. I have Bette L Bemis’ book “Cribbage Boards” (great reference BTW if you are a collector!) and I did not see it in there. Same as you, I bought mine because I really liked the design. Let me know if you do find out more about it. Thank you for stopping by!

thanks, the antique store I purchased it from said it was most likely bakelite. I have the original box but the top is missing. I am sure the top had the info I would like to have. If I find something on the Yellow Drgaon Board I will let you know.

Roger,
Was the original box cardboard or wood? Mine came in the hinged light wooden box you can see in the picture above. It is fairly nice but I don’t think it is the box that originally came with the board. If it is the same box, there is no information at all on the top.

I was interested in your piece about cribbage because I have an Inuit cribbage board. It is made out of an irregular shape of stone which has been fitted out with a frame of other stones, all holding flat and tight and hard to tell where the frame ends and the center begins. The board is made up of a series of similar sized white rocks, maybe some sort of partly metamorphized limestone. Each has evenly bored holes for the pegs. Each of them fits into a carved seat with thin borders of the original stone. There are 4 walrus ivory pegs, two with dark tops and two without.

What seems strange to me is that the board is made in the shape of the number 29, with a wider dark gray distance between the beginning of one number carved into the basic stone than any of the narrow lines between the white cribbage stones with their holes. There is a signature abbreviation of two letters deeply carved into the verso of the board, and also an inuit name scratched into the bottom of the board, seemingly the first owner.

I am sure that Inuit, themselves have played cribbage. It would be nice to know how long. But I have no idea what the significance of the 29 is. Also the amount of work ijnvolved in this piece would dozens and dozens of painstaking, very skilled hours. If the Inuit can sell bone carved cribbage boards to tourists, why would they spend so much more time making onw out of really hard stone? So I do have a question-do any of you have an idea of the significance of the numbers 29? It is hard to date the board, but considering where it came fom, if it was new when the last owners bought it it would have been made between 1900 and 1930.