This exquisite skull set by Alexandra Llewellyn is for true lovers of the ancient game of poker.
Here’s a little history lesson for you. The game we know today as poker traces its origins back almost 1,000 years although its exact genesis is hotly debated by those in the know. Some academics claim poker started off as a domino-card game enjoyed by a 10th-century Chinese emperor, while others say the Persian card game As Nas, which dates back to the 16th century, was a truer precursor.
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In Europe, poker is linked to Poque, a game that was popular in 17th century France and German (immigrants from which would later take their game to the fledgling US and anglicised the name to ‘poker’), and which itself was based on a Spanish game called Primero, which features just three cards but plenty of bluffing. Fascinating, huh?
So if you’re an avid stud or you have a special table monkey in your life we might have the poker set for you. Limited to just 15 units, the set – designed by acclaimed London luxury game designer Alexandra Llewellyn – comes in a truly stunning hand-crafted marquetry box bearing a skull motif (each box is individually numbered with the serial number hidden on the skull’s hand-cut gold tooth).
The box, which is hand-drawn by Alexandra, is made up of 1,000 individually cut pieces of wood – a mixture of sycamore, walnut, oak, Masur birch and 4,000-year-old bog oak – and within you’ll find 500 traditional gold-stamped clay chips, custom made by the oldest chip makers in the US.n addition, the dealer button is of black marble, engraved and inlaid in brass, and the blind buttons are engraved mother-of-pearl discs.
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What’s cool is that the chips are housed on leather-handled trays on two levels, and below punters will discover two secret compartments.
What you do with these spaces is at your discretion but we have a few ideas.
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