John J. Gredler Works of Art

Late 19th Century Miniature Roulette Wheel, All Original

19th century miniature traveling single zero roulette wheel, Continental likely French. Mahogany case with a brass top, the numbers in very good condition. This charming item will make and unusual decoration, or a great gift to the gambling aficionado. Beautifully hand turned and hand crafted, all original including the three feet. Writing in scripted ink on the bottom, perhaps a signature or owners mark.  Circa 1880.

5 inched diameter 2 high

Roulette—literally “the little wheel”—is among the most enduring institutions of gambling and a touchstone for debates about chance, probability, and risk. Its history is not a single invention story but a convergence of wheel-based and number-betting games across the 17th and 18th centuries, consolidated into the numbered wheel and table layout that spread from late-18th-century Paris to 19th-century German spa towns and the Riviera, and then to the United States.