Bonhams & Butterfields Sells Game Board for Record $57,360
by Lita Solis-Cohen
A 19th-century hand-drawn and painted Parcheesi board with a meandering path in yellow and cream and borders painted red, green, blue, and brown on a black ground, estimated at $4000/6000, sold for a record $57,360 (includes buyer’s premium) on December 4, 2006, at Bonhams & Butterfields in Los Angeles. Westborough, Massachusetts, dealer David Wheatcroft
was the buyer. "It has that crossover quality that
takes it to the visual level of modern art," said Wheatcroft
when reached by phone. "It has a dynamic quality
that is hard to find in traditional game boards."
Its unusual layout is not unique; one of the same form
but different colors is pictured in the 1986 book Gameboards of North America by Bruce and Doranna Wendel. The previous auction record for a game board is
$46,000. That was first paid for a game board painted
with two American flags at Northeast Auctions’ sale of
the Virginia Ramsey-Pope Cave collection in August
2000. The same price was paid for a folding game board
with an American flag in the center that sold at Skinner
in February 2001 to Marc Brown, creator of the children’s
book and cartoon character Arthur. |
Sat, July 14, 2007 
© 2006 by Maine Antique Digest