WOOD WHIST COUNTERS

Wood Whist Counters

(If you've gotten here by accident and don't know what's going on, click WHAT THE HELL IS A WHIST COUNTER? If you don't know the difference between a Whist Counter and a Whist Marker, click WHAT THE HELL IS A WHIST MARKER?)

The most commonly found whist counters are made of wood, often with simple wooden snap-up pegs, but sometimes pegs of ivory. Most of the counters below are what I call Goodall types (click here for the difference between Goodall type counters and De La Rue types). Click Great Peg Count Mystery to learn the difference between short whist, long whist and bridge whist and why all the counters below can probably be dated from between 1888 and 1908.

Whist counters were made in pairs. Some of the pieces below have mates, but I'm including pairs only when there are color or other differences.

Notice that sometimes the thin pegs are on the bottom right, sometimes on the bottom left. Could it be that left-handed whist players demanded their own counters? They also came in different sizes -- and though I don't think smaller players preferred smaller counters, I cannot rule this out for sure.

Note that the first counter below (manufactured by Goodall & Son and wholesaled for 9 shillings per dozen pairs) comes complete with its own handy-dandy cribbage board.

(Click on any counter for a larger image)

Goodall also registered a patent for a whist counter that had the same basic design and worked on a same mechanism but looked entirely different, the Foster.

Whist counters sometimes carried advertisements or were sold as souvenirs of vacation spots, often in France where the game was also popular

Are these counters for Bridge Whist? Sorry, I used tp think so (see Great Peg Count Mystery), but new research by French card expert, Thierry Depaulis and Swiss professor Alain Schärlig who is writing an article on the subject, proves that they are for Piquet!.

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