Ancient, British and World Coins, Tokens and Banknotes

“Mathews on the Game of Whist”, circular brass box with the top decorated with cards and legend “mathews on the game of whist”, complete with twenty four silvered counters, published by Thomason, half-draped female figure l., holding her finger to her mouth, the reverses outlining the rules of the game. A charming set; some pieces a little scuffed and mostly lightly cleaned but of excellent workmanship (a characteristic of all Thomason’s work) and generally extremely fine, very rare as a complete set (£200-250)

Single pieces from this set are sometimes met with, but are far from common; complete sets are practically never seen. Doubtless these boxed counters were an expensive novelty, at the time, and few sets were sold. One example illustrated.