Pewter Knuckle Bones

The game of knuckle bones dates from ancient times. It was a popular game right up through the 19th century. The use of a sheep's knuckles made the game easily available to people with little or no income since they could acquire the game pieces free of charge. While the game could be played with real bones, artificial bones were made for more well off gamesters. Roman glass knuckle bones are well documented archaeological finds. From the 14th century onwards, with the rise of the craft of the pewterer, knuckle bones made of tin or lead alloys became status symbols and made the game pieces more available in growing urban communities such as London.

These knuckle bones are exact copies of a pair of authentic pewter knuckle bones in our private collection. They were found in Amsterdam and date from the14th century, though nearly identical examples have been found on archaeological sites dating from the next several hundred years. Comes complete with rules. $12.00