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Table game

Table game
Object name 
Table game
Date 
1908
Medium 
Cardboard, paper, wood, tin, thread
Dimensions 
box: 3 1/4 x 18 3/4 x 20 3/4 in. ( 8.3 x 47.6 x 52.7 cm )
Description 
"Four and Twenty Blackbirds" table game in box with one "fishing" pole with a pair of embossed tin wings which are hinged in the center and four wingless paper black birds; board set into the bottom of the box decorated with the image of a pie in the center surrounded by a floral border; twenty-four slots are cut into the pie; corners of board inscribed, "Sing a song of six-pence/ A pocket full of rye;/ Four-and-twenty black birds/ Baked in a pie./ Was not that a dainty dish/ To set befor the king?/ When the pie was opened,/ the birds began to sing.;" slot next to the board holds all the accesories; box cover printed with an image of a pie stuffed with blackbirds surrounded by a floral border; box inscribed, "Game of/ FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS/ McLOUGHLIN BROS. * NEW YORK."
Credit Line 
The Liman Collection
Object Number 
2000.466
Marks 
printed: in the corners of board: "Sing a song of six-pence/ A pocket full of rye;/ Four-and-twenty black birds/ Baked in a pie./ Was not that a dainty dish/ To set befor the king?/ When the pie was opened,/ the birds began to sing." printed: on the box cover: "Game of/ FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS/ McLOUGHLIN BROS. * NEW YORK."
Gallery Label 
Four and Twenty Blackbirds, inspired by the Mother Goose rhyme, calls on the dexterity of players to hook a pair of metal wings on a rod, catch the blackbirds poking out of the pie, and remove them one by one without letting them fall. A variation of Fish Pond pr