What Is This Please

[pfh]

I'm currently helping clear an old clubhouse.This one was built with a purpose built billiards room.By each table,attached to the wall was one of these long,thin lockable glass fronted boxes.I used to think it was just some kind of old ball store,never really noticing the slot on the top of the each compartment.
If it was just some way of paying to play then each slot wouldn't need to be numbered 1-12.I was wondering if it was some way of maybe gambling on billiards or some such.It's something thats puzzling me so hopefully someone will have some idea as to what they are for/about.
Thanks.
http://http://oi63.tinypic.com/rab1g0.jpg
http://http://tinypic.com/view.php?p...9#.V1TFESEpooo
http://http://postimg.org/image/42gbywsln/
http://http://postimg.org/image/n6q8g9fpn/

[cpserrao]

I'm currently helping clear an old clubhouse.This one was built with a purpose built billiards room.By each table,attached to the wall was one of these long,thin lockable glass fronted boxes.I used to think it was just some kind of old ball store,never really noticing the slot on the top of the each compartment.
If it was just some way of paying to play then each slot wouldn't need to be numbered 1-12.I was wondering if it was some way of maybe gambling on billiards or some such.It's something thats puzzling me so hopefully someone will have some idea as to what they are for/about.
Thanks.
http://http://oi63.tinypic.com/rab1g0.jpg
http://http://tinypic.com/view.php?p...9#.V1TFESEpooo
http://http://postimg.org/image/42gbywsln/
http://http://postimg.org/image/n6q8g9fpn/

Link doesnt seem to be working?

[billabong]

Nope, not working for me, either.

[DeanH]

yep links not working, from your description though I think it is something to do with betting on the game (a form of life pool?) but not sure of the details

[streamer45]

fixed links

http://oi63.tinypic.com/rab1g0.jpg

http://oi65.tinypic.com/65an0g.jpg

http://s33.postimg.org/8bl212vv2/DSCF1399.jpg

http://s33.postimg.org/kcn32tdji/DSCF1400.jpg

[Terry Davidson]

I tried the links and it screwed up my computer and had to re-start. Be careful.

Judging by the look of these things (I got a short peek before it crashed) it looks like they were used laterally to store chalk but I don't know what the original purpose was.

[100-uper]

I'm currently helping clear an old clubhouse.This one was built with a purpose built billiards room.By each table,attached to the wall was one of these long,thin lockable glass fronted boxes.I used to think it was just some kind of old ball store,never really noticing the slot on the top of the each compartment.
If it was just some way of paying to play then each slot wouldn't need to be numbered 1-12.I was wondering if it was some way of maybe gambling on billiards or some such.It's something thats puzzling me so hopefully someone will have some idea as to what they are for/about.
Thanks.

Was there ever a blackboard mounted above these boxes, or signs that one might have been in place originally?

[ryanah147]

From what I can see I think it is an addition to a plain life pool board that does not have the drawers for the balls, and also the money slots. The 1 to 12 would depict the 12 balls used for life pool namely ; White, Red, Yellow, Green, Brown, Blue, Pink, Spot White, Spot Red, Spot Yellow, Spot Green, Spot Brown. ( The Black ball wasnt mentioned on the board).

[100-uper]

One of these, essentially the same, but with 15 numbered compartments, appeared in a thread on here two years ago. My comments at the time can be found here:

http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/boa...light=coin-box

I would only modify my original comments by saying that if a number of these were in-situ next to a billiard table, they clearly are associated with some sort of pool game, and its only purpose could be that of a coin-box, or "pool till" as they were known.

I'm still sure that the intended game wasn't "Life Pool." All of the tills for Life pool I have seen have ivory buttons to represent the colour of the player's cue ball. However, it could conceivably be for a single cue-ball game like "Slosh" perhaps better known as "Russian Pool" or "Indian Pool" which became quite popular in the 1920s. If more than two players were involved (and any number could take part) this would need a blackboard, or similar, to mark each individual players' score. Possibly this would also have been numbered to correspond with the coin-box.

With the possible exception of "Skittle Pool," I can't think of any other game which might have been so popular in a club as to prompt the fitting of these boxes at each table.

I thought that the best suggestion from the original thread was that it was a starting gate for snail racing!

[pfh]

Thanks to Streamer45 for fixing the links.
100-upper.The slosh idea makes sense as in the layout of the room there were billiards score boards on the wall at the end of each table,then coming inwards a window then these boxes and each had a large blackboard next to it.I can't rule out the life pool idea though as the boxes might be club member made as even though the room was built for billiards they didn't have unlimited funds and bought the tables secondhand(not sure how much they would have saved them in 1890 though).
Thanks for the replies.It was one of those things.In my time the tables have only been used for snooker so as long as i'd seen those boxes i'd never known what they were and as the rooms being stripped out i just wanted to finally get an answer to this puzzle before they were gone.
I might keep one however for the snail racing idea.Could be an earner