ITEM DESCRIPTION:

Rhythm Bones 5 Full Boxes of 4 in Display Box 50s New Old Stock. Here is a rare display box of 21 unused Rhythm Bones. All like new in boxes except for one loose one. All the boxes are in excellent condition. The Rhythm Bones are made of hard plastic. The super rare display box shows a man playing these in a Minstrel outfit. The lid lifted and was tucked in the back showing the lid and the product on a store shelf back in the 50's. The box has wear and tears and dirty. The Rhythm Bones King is a man called Joe Birl. In 1945 Birl applied for a patent for his black molded plastic bones that bore a groove to help keep the bones from slipping out of a player's hand. Birl produced and sold around 150,000 pairs of these plastic rhythm bones. After the plastic mold broke, he made wooden rhythm bones with his patented grooved design. Players hold a pair of bones between their fingers with the convex sides facing one another; one is held fairly tightly and the other more loosely. By shaking the wrist, the bones hit one another, creating a loud "clack." The connection between the two bones is carried by the momentum from the player's arm and hand movements rather than any effort to force the bones to knock together. In North America, players tend to play with a pair of bones in each hand, while in Ireland the tradition is to play one-handed. Because bones were also often used by African American musicians, they became a common facet of 19th-century minstrel shows - where white performers appeared in blackface, later Black entertainers appeared in minstrel shows too and the bones popularity in the United States grew within this context. One of the first bones playing minstrel performers was Frank Brower, and the first documentation of him playing the bones in front of an audience are from 1841 in Virginia. Check out my vintage toy collection and advertising. Please ask any questions that you may have. Thank you, Dave ......No Tax charged. Only accepting non fee payments, Paypal family and friends (no credit cards) due to new tax laws. I will also accept a personal check or postal money order.