Notes
This game table was made in France in the third quarter of the 18th century, during the reign of King Louis XV (1710–1774). It is a "plain and simple" example of furnishings made at that time and includes a recessed board for playing backgammon.
Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on table boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tabletop games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Persia. The earliest record of backgammon dates to 17th-century England descended from the 16th-century game of Irish.
Backgammon is a two-player game of contrary movement in which each player has fifteen pieces known traditionally as men (short for "tablemen"), but increasingly known as "checkers" in the US, analogous to the other board game of Checkers. The backgammon table pieces move along twenty-four "points" according to the roll of two dice. The game's objective is to move the fifteen pieces around the board and be first to bear off, i.e., remove them from the board. The achievement of this while the opponent is still far behind results in a triple win known as a backgammon, hence the game's name.
By the 18th century, backgammon had become popular among the English clergy and upper classes and soon made its way to the American colonies. Many backgammon tables appear in colonial inventories, and backgammon games (and monetary losses) are mentioned in many period diaries.
Patrick Henry owned a backgammon table at Red Hill. It is listed in his estate inventory taken after his death in 1799 as "1 back gamon Table" worth £2.08. It is surmised this table was simple in nature and made from walnut, similar to many other furnishings owned by Henry.
This table was purchased using funds from the estate of Dr. Bruce English on November 10, 2023.