Hand coloured lithographic sheet in 8 segments mounted on linen, measuring 330 x 485 mm, and a printed rule card (torn in two, a little brown-spotted), without the dye-cast ships and the tee totum; in the original mahogany box, sliding lid with mounted hand-coloured lithographic and illustrated title; small abrasure to lithograph, minor chips to woodwork; label of Mrs. Henry’s Fancy Repository in Guernsey inside lid.
The earliest known board game entirely devoted to Australia, a beautiful example of a gold rush game. The Australian Gold Rush started in 1851 with Edward Hargraves’ discovery of gold near Bathurst, which resulted in a gold frenzy, mass immigration, and an economic boom that fired the imagination of thousands around the world. This board game captures the optimism, enthusiasm and sheer madness of the early days of the gold rush, with a large scene of prospectors running and rejoicing, cheering, falling over for joy and digging up football-sized nuggets.
The start of the course of the game shows the Embarkation at Plymouth, the vignettes showing scenes of the sea voyage and the digging for gold. The illustration of the lid is a theatrical Passing the Cape of Good Hope with Africans, a European couple, guns and two ships struggling in the rough sea. The complete set should comprise an ivory totum and six lead ships.
 
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