Object of the Month April 2023 - “Pick Up Sticks” Game Pieces

April 2023

“Pick Up Sticks” Game Pieces
Nineteenth century
1937.0036.001-.038

These tiny wooden implements, playing pieces for a game of pick up sticks or jackstraw, were carved from wood salvaged from the John Hancock home on Beacon Street in Boston. The house remained in the family after Hancock’s death in 1793, but was ultimately sold in 1859 and torn down in 1863. Several building elements and wood scraps were salvaged, and a number of these items remain in the Revolutionary Spaces collection.

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