The cover of an early twentieth century French board game called "L'Eléphant Blanc Prédit l'Avenir", or The White Elephant Predicts the Future, complete with the instructions for playing glued to the back of this lid. Sourced by Maison Bleu Lin, it has clearly been played with in its day, but is in very good condition, with only a little bit of marring (see photos 8 & 9), and some wear and a small scribble on the instructions (photo 13). A souvenir of a culture long gone, possibly representing India or Siam (Thialand): tropical, colonial, and mysterious.
The game was a sort of Ouiji board, as pictured in photo 6, with piles of cards for the answers to the questions posed to the white elephant, using a spinner designed as the elephant's trunk with which it designated which pile to pull a card from as its answer to the query posed.
A search of the internet revealed only two references to this game: one at the Museum of Civilizations of Europe in Marseille, France, which had a photo of all the parts of the game (photos 6 & 7), and one from the De Baecque auction house, also in France.
In order to preserve and elegantly present this vintage treasure, it is placed on scarlet velvet and framed under glass in a repurposed frame. The instructions having been firmly pasted to the inside of the lid of this game, a window was cut through the velvet, the matting and the backing of the piece in order to make it possible to view it still. It measures just under 18" wide by 14.5" tall in its frame.
French "Éléphant Blanc" Board Game Box Cover
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