Collection Highlights
"A Visit from St. Nicholas"
Date:
1862
Object Number:
MSS.BV.Moore.1
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Museum Collections
Luce Center
Improved Game of Tiddledy Winks
Object Number:
2000.570
Date:
1890
Medium:
Cardboard, felt, wood, ivory
Dimensions:
box: 1 5/8 x 8 x 4 1/2 in. ( 4.1 x 20.3 x 11.4 cm )
Marks:
lithographed: on the box cover: "IMPROVED GAME/ TIDDLEDY/ WINKS/ PATENT NOV. 18 1890./ McLoughlin Bro's New-York"
Description:
"Improved Game of Tiddledy Winks" table game with 27 ivory playing pieces, a wooden cup and three rectangular felt pads in a paper covered cardboard box; box top chromolithographed with an image of a frog smoking a pipe and holding a fishing rod; box cover inscribed, "IMPROVED GAME/ TIDDLEDY/ WINKS/ PATENT NOV. 18 1890./ McLoughlin Bro's New-York".
Gallery Label:
Tiddledy Winks, first patented in England in 1889 and marketed to an adult audience, captivated Americans during the 1890s. The game's general concept is flicking a game piece (wink) with another instrument (tiddledy or squidger) to make the wink fly into the air. The modern spelling, tiddlywinks, came into use during the 1950s.
Bibliography:
Hofer, Margaret K. "The Games We Played: The Golden Age of Board & Table Games." New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2003.
Credit Line:
The Liman Collection
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
