Florentine Gabbanini Checker Board Tray

January 28, 2012
Last month while visiting one of our local consignment stores I had a fun find. 

At first I thought it was just a wooden tray with a brass inset, but upon further evaluation, I discovered it was a checker board or maybe a chess board.  I picked it up for its $5 price tag.

The back of the tray was marked made by Gabbanini, Florence, Italy.   The collector/ebayer in me of course googled Gabbanini trays to see if I had stumbled across something valuable.  I was not able to find another like it, however, I did find photos of beautiful Florentine trays searching the internet. 

The checker/chess board  (solid brass not lacquered) tray bottom shined up nicely but as solid brass does, tarnishes pretty quickly too. 

There were no checkers with the tray, so I looked on the internet hoping to purchase metal ones to enhance the look of the tray, only to find that metal ones cost close to $200.  Instead I purchased unfinished wood checkers, and stained half of them walnut and painted the other half antique gold. 

We are not big checker players, but I'm happy to say the tray is quite decorative.  I have it on my coffee table now but may even hang it on the wall. 








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Take a look, and tell me if you know any details about this tray!

The Shabby Nest








The Thrifty Groove
Thanks for reading my blog, Carlene

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Comments

  1. Carlene, I don't know anything about the checker set but it is stunning. The color looks like copper on my IPad screen but you would know the metal having it there before you. That was a clever idea to paint the pieces like that. I hope more knowledgeable people than I can give you some information.------ Shannon

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  2. Well I don't know anything about the set but, it is really a nice find and so unique! Thank you for joining TTF and have a fantastic weekend!

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