May
11
Continuing to dip into my antique Australiana collection, the next piece to show is from about 1900. When I first saw this I assumed it was actually referencing World War I (c1914), but other sources assert the turn of the (20th) century and show that it is actually about the Boer War. The strongest provenance …
May
02
My vintage collection moves to the UK with this card game. The complete series of The Counties of England actually comprises four sets of cards – Northern, Midlands, Eastern and Southern. Shown here is the first (Northern) set. According to boardgamegeek, this collection dates back to 1870 published by the still extant John Jaques company, …
Apr
18
A few weeks ago I posted about another antique in my collection called “Boy Scouts”. Since then I have poured hours – many more than I anticipated – into its restoration by digital editing. The job is now done and I am very satisfied with the results. Some additional work with GIMP (the free, open-source …
Mar
28
Restoring Boy Scouts There are a few more pieces in my vintage Australiana collection, but these are in poorer condition than those I’ve already displayed here. I’m confident of being able to digitally restore all of them, but the main challenge is time – I can see hours of effort ahead in each one! Of …
Mar
22
Here is the next in the vintage National Games series. According to the National Archives of Australia, the original version of this was published in 1910 – this is the low-resolution image from their collection, provided here simply under their ‘fair dealing’ terms. There is yet another version in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum, …
Mar
15
All of the vintage pieces featured here so far, and most of those yet to come, are from original copies of the games themselves. They show the wear and tear of age that accompanies nearly all antique items – scratches, dirt marks, scuffs and tears, and the most significant damage due the centreline fold(s) of …
Mar
09
The third piece in my collection of vintage boardgames from the “National” set. This particular version is at least the third, and more likely the fourth or later incarnation of The National Bicycle Game. Previous versions visible at Lynda Hyde’s Hyde and Seek site, and also at the Cycling Board Games collection site by Anki …
Mar
03
The second item in my antique collection is this classic from 1911. Around the Commonwealth by Aeroplane is a nice curiosity for a number of reasons – the fact that Australia represents the entire Commonwealth, the Northern Territory is technically the “Northern Territory of South Australia”, and instead of Canberra this spot on the map …
