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18th Century Backgammon Boards

In backgammon, two players move the playing pieces according to the roll of dice. A player wins by removing all of his pieces from the board. Throughout time, there have been many variations of the game recorded, though they share common traits. Often appearing in tavern scenes, backgammon became a popular gambling game, most famously captured in the painting, "The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymus Bosch, circa 1500. With roots found 3000 years ago, backgammon remains a popular pastime of gamers throughout the world.

History
- Backgammon is one of the oldest known board games. With origins in ancient Persia, the craze quickly spread through Europe with the expansion of the Romans, who introduced the game as "tables." An excavation of the Swedish ship, the "Vasa," uncovered a backgammon board that was played by officers. Gambling laws banned the 11th-century French game "le jeux de table" and England's backgammon in the 16th century. The word 'backgammon' made it into the Oxford English Dictionary in 1650. By the 18th century, with the publication of Edmund Hoyle's, "A Short Treatise on the Game of Back-Gammon," backgammon took off as a popular, strategic parlor game, even among the clergy.
18th-Century Boards
- Eighteenth-century boards crafted in wood, such as mahogany, bore metal hinges and closures. Mostly played by the wealthy upper class, these boards were usually ornate and highly decorative. Inlays of contrasting light and dark woods, with coverings in leather were popular. Game boards, when folded, were often disguised as leather-bound books to blend in on a shelf. In Asian countries, black and gold lacquer, ivory or mother-of-pearl inlays decorated ornate boards of this period.
Backgammon Tables
- Backgammon sets also served as furniture. Ornately covered tables of solid mahogany with pear wood or ebony veneers plus gilt trim were common in stately parlors. Surfaces inlaid with ebony and ivory also served as card tables when reversed to a felt playing surface. In China, backgammon tables of the Edo period (18th century) were fashioned of black lacquer decorated with intricate paintings on the sides. Usually, the piece doubled as a chessboard and backgammon set.
Dice, Cups and Checkers
- Eighteenth-century backgammon dice were made of ivory, wood or bone.
  
  Each player in backgammon has his own pair of dice and a cup used for shaking. The doubling cube, numbered 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64, keeps track of current stakes in the game. Dice from this period were carved from ivory, wood or bone. Cups were made of formed leather. White and dyed-ivory playing pieces survive in 18th-century Asian sets, while more primitive wooden pieces have survived from Europe.

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