Mathematical lotto game card made in Germany in the late nineteenth century

Set of six colour printed cards backed with paper each with a border of brown stylised leaves and patterns printed on a black background. Each card has eleven hexagonal pieces cut from its picture - two rows of four, top and bottom, and one of three in between. When these pieces are removed printed beneath are numbers and/or German words or phrases. Printed on the obverse of the hexagonal pieces is the question or mathematical sum for the answer that lies underneath it. The general pattern is for the top and bottom rows of four to have numbers and phrases, the outer two in the central three to have just a number and for the central piece to have a question or riddle with a short answer printed in larger type.

Given by Mrs A Casey

This game originally belonged to the donor's French grandmother (b.1889) who was brought up in the Nieve part of France. It was then passed to her daughter, the donor's mother, who was born in Paris but brought up in England.

The donor's maternal great-grandmother was Suzanne de Bourbon-Busset.

Games of Lotto have been popular since the 18th century and were used extensively during the 19th century for educational purposes. It was not until the 20th century that lotto began to use numbers and became bingo. The Museum has a good collection of educational lotto games, ranging from flowers to the Bible and from history to household object. Many of these were printed in Germany but catered for both the French and English markets. This example is published in German and the game itself has a two-fold aim. Its component parts are both mathematical and morally instructive, an unusual combination not found in many other examples.

B.260:1 to 6-2012