Dice & bird trough

Date: Late 1400s

Three of these small bone dice have the numbers one to three repeated so that they always fall on low numbers; three of them have only numbers four to six. These were known as low or high 'despatchers'. X-rays show that all the others dice have been weighted with drops of mercury in one side or another. These 'loaded' dice would fall the same way every time. Eleven of them tend to show five or six, the others one or two. Gambling with dice was very popular in London in the 1500s, and crooked dice were used to fool gullible punters. Loaded dice were called 'fulhams' - presumably the Thames-side village of Fulham was notorious as the haunt of dice-sharpers. The dice were found in a pewter bird seed pot.

Accession number: 84.136

Place of collection: All Hallows Stairs, Dowgate Hill, Upper Thames Street, London EC4 [City of London] [River Thames]

Material: bone; mercury; lead alloy

Measurements:

Gallery location: Case 16.1