Rare 1930s French portable pétanque game box w/ "Dame Fanny" painting 28¼" x 32"
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Dating from the 1930s, a portable pétanque game wooden box with iron handle on top. The front of the box features yellow 1930s-style block writing and a coin slot leading to a coin box on the interior. Players would enter coins at the start of the game, and the winner would receive the total earnings. As French tradition states, if a player loses the game without scoring a single point (losing 13 to zero), the player is called "the fanny" and must accept the task of giving a kiss to the painted portrait of "Dame Fanny" - the goddess of pétanque - as depicted on the inside of this box and explained further below. A humorous must-have addition for any Francophile collectors of cultural memorabilia. Please note photos to observe the top left corner features some loss to wood that does not impact the overall functionality of the piece. Key included and in working condition.
More on the cultural French tradition and legend of "Dame Fanny":
In one version of the legend, Fanny was a waitress at the Café de Grand-Lemps just after World War I. She was so kind hearted that she would allow customers who had lost a game of boules without scoring a single point to kiss her… on the cheek. One day the village mayor lost a game and came to collect his “prize”. No one knows what prompted Fanny… perhaps she was unhappy with the mayor for some reason. She lifted her skirt and, one might say, turned the other cheek! The mayor never hesitated, though, and less than a second later two loud kisses resounded through the café. This was the beginning of a tradition that requires a player (or team) that loses a game without scoring any points to kiss the bottom of a girl named Fanny.
Condition and patina consistent with age.
Approx. overall 28¼" high x 32" wide x 3½" deep
Approx. overall 72cm high x 81cm wide x 9cm deep
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