Antique Boxed set of 55 Bone and Ebony Dominoes. "July 21 1881" written in pencil on bottom. Label taped to inside of lid with further information. 

Box: 11 3/4 X 2 1/4 X 2 3/4 in. 

Dominoes (each): 2 X 1 X 1/2 in. 

#7098 . 

Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ends. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called pips or dots) or is blank. The backs of the tiles in a set are indistinguishable, either blank or having some common design. Sometimes the tiles have a metal pin (called a spinner or pivot) in the middle. The gaming pieces make up a domino set, sometimes called a deck or pack. The earliest mention of dominoes is from the Chinese Song Dynasty in the text “Former Events in Wulin” by Zhou Mi (1232-1298 AD). Modern dominoes first appeared in Italy during the 18th Century, but they differed from the more military-themed Chinese dominoes in a number of respects. The basic Chinese set of 28 unique tiles was augmented by seven additional pieces, six of them representing the values that result from throwing a single die with the other half of the tile left blank, and the seventh domino representing the blank-blank (0-0) combination. The name “domino” itself is probably derived from the resemblance to a costume worn during the Venetian Carnival, consisting of a black-hooded robe and a white mask. Dominoes have sometimes been used in different cultures for divination, such as bone throwing in Chinese culture and in the African diaspora. European-style dominoes were traditionally made of bone, mother of pearl, ivory, or a dark hardwood such as ebony, with contrasting black or white pips (inlaid or painted). Modern commercial domino sets are usually made of synthetic materials, such as polystyrene plastics or Bakelite. An article in a French newspaper in 1889 described dominoes as having spread worldwide, “but nowhere… more popular than in the cafés of France and Belgium.” 45-piece (double eight) sets first appeared in Austria at the turn of the 19th Century, and by the beginning of the 20th Century various 55-piece (double nine) and 91-piece (double twelve) sets were being produced.