Growing up, playing whist with my parents, meant the game stayed with me through out my adult life before my interest was replaced with playing bridge.

About thirty years ago I read a later edition of the 1742 work by Edmund Hoyle, ‘A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist, printed for T. Osborne et al, sixth London edition, 1746.’

I then discovered that there were early translations of the 1742 work. Up to that time I could be excused for thinking that whist was predominantly played in England and I didn’t appreciate its worldwide popularity.

I began to develop an interest in the paraphernalia used for scoring whist specifically for the Long version . As far as we can establish these ‘essential aids’ were in  demand from the early 1800s.

I found it amazing that the scoring of this card game could attract so much interest that significant manufacturing time was spent producing four ‘coins’, often with boxes, to score the game — when surely everyone had loose change in their pockets that would serve the same purpose!

Of course, stones and coins have been used as devices for accounting for centuries, so it’s possible this methodology of using four coins to count in our decimal system even predates Hoyle’s 1742 work though I can find no evidence of counting using only four objects.

The Inca counting boards used positional values for the pieces placed which gave them the ability to count to quite large numbers which may have been the inspiration for the ‘inventor’.

The first reference to this method of scoring appeared in a Portuguese publication on the subject of whist: Breve Tratado do Jogo do Whist, in 1753.

Whilst it is commonly referred to as Hoyles counting method it had nothing to do with him; in fact hoyle had very little to do with the publication that bears his name to this day.

The medalet and check makers of Birmingham, and some in London, were producing British farthing-sized tokens in cylindrical boxes to meet the demand for this ‘much-needed’ aid – this was c1820.

I knew that other materials were used, lamb’s bone, porcelain, wood etc but it was the metal ones that held my attention.

I then discovered there were French whist boxes and counters — many in mother-of-pearl with hand-painted court designs — there was also a variety of metal ones.

Latterly I came across something so far out of the ordinary, to me, that it became my passion: German whist boxes, principally made in Berlin iron.

Whereas the English boxes were fairly plain— usually featuring an effigy of Hoyle, some with concentric circles — these German boxes were cast with figures I did not immediately recognize:  cherubs, Greek and Roman gods, cavaliers, animals and more. Highly decorated as were their contents.

Early references to these counters In Germany was to be found in literature related to medalists.

These books date the counters about 1800: they were regarded on a par with medals. I believe it was more likely 1805–1808.

It is important to note that these books only referred to the contents of boxes, counters which may have ben sold separately with no mention of the boxes.

You will all have seen objects for whist scoring and most probably know how the objects have to be placed during the game but that is not the subject of this talk and has been fully covered in the journals of the IPCS.

[ to be continued ]