King George III Dice?

[Phogan87]

I've had these dice tucked away in my collection for about a decade now. Based on the material, the patina, the wear, and the stamp itself I have always given into the notion that they were authentic, however, I thought I would post this photo and see if anybody new enough to either agree or disagree with this assumption. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Phogan87]

I played with the photo little bit to see if the stamping could be more apparent

 

[OldSarge79]

I can't say I've ever seen anything like that. My best guess is that they were privately owned by someone like a good and loyal pub owner, on one side of the Atlantic or the other.
How old are they? I don't know, but IF they are indeed actually old, the simple font to me indicates early 1800's, but not 1700's.

You might want to post them on British Militaria Forums, although I don't think there is anything military about them.

 

[JerryD]

That looks like SR to me, not GR. Is it possible it was the cypher of a sovereign from some other country? I see Poland had a king in the late 18th Century that used a SR cypher.

 

[Conquerordie]

I see the GR and Crown. When you search the image they all come up Stamp Act era dice, which they could be. I agree the patina looks right. Never seen a reproduction of these. Just dont know if the Brits marked them this way at any other time period.

 

[Library Lady]

If @OldSarge79 is right about the early 1800s, then it could be George IV rather than George III. He was Prince Regent from 1811 to 1820 while George III declined into dementia and then king in his own right from 1820 to 1830. He led, shall we say, a tabloid sort of life.

 

[JerryD]

I see the GR and Crown. When you search the image they all come up Stamp Act era dice, which they could be. I agree the patina looks right. Never seen a reproduction of these. Just dont know if the Brits marked them this way at any other time period.

Good call on Stamp Act dice. Here is an image of some verified Stamp Act dice

 

[Phogan87]

So to summarize, they look authentic, but because of the font, it might be George IV rather than the III. I TEACH A HISTORY CLASS AND LIKE TO PASS AROUND ARTIFACTS, BUT ONLY THOSE THAT I'M CONFIDENT IN THEIR AUTHENTICITY. THANKS FOR EVERYBODY'S INSIGHT!

 

[Phogan87]

I have no idea why my caps lock all of a sudden turned on when I posted this… I didn't mean to yell at everyone

 

[JerryD]

So to summarize, they look authentic, but because of the font, it might be George IV rather than the III. I TEACH A HISTORY CLASS AND LIKE TO PASS AROUND ARTIFACTS, BUT ONLY THOSE THAT I'M CONFIDENT IN THEIR AUTHENTICITY. THANKS FOR EVERYBODY'S INSIGHT!

I think if they are stamped due to the Stamp Act, then they have to be George III. The Stamp Act only applied to the colonies and we were not colonies under George IV.

 

[Phogan87]

Thanks everyone!

 

[Cato3rd]

So to summarize, they look authentic, but because of the font, it might be George IV rather than the III. I TEACH A HISTORY CLASS AND LIKE TO PASS AROUND ARTIFACTS, BUT ONLY THOSE THAT I'M CONFIDENT IN THEIR AUTHENTICITY. THANKS FOR EVERYBODY'S INSIGHT!

I just thought you were pulling a Sam Kinison In that scene from the movie Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield

 

[Phogan87]

 

[R. Porter]

Is it possible dice were stamped at a time and place that was not Colonial America during the Stamp Act? Measures in pubs in England were stamped during the 19th century to show they had been approved for accuracy by royal inspectors, similar to inspection of gas pumps in America today.

 

[Phogan87]

And they would do this on dice?

 

[milhistbuff1]

And they would do this on dice?

Yes, dice are explicitly listed in the act, 10 shillings per Gilder Lehrman's excerpt

 

[R. Porter]

After searching the Internet for a while, it appears that GR under a crown is only found on Stamp Act dice. However, they seem to have a different font and are almost always colored red. But, I haven't found any reproduction Stamp Act dice. So the op still has a puzzle. I also found where the op has posted this same query on several other discussion boards which, as of right now (10:36 09/20/2025) have yielded no results. It would appear that the stamps on the OP dice are not something common in the 19th century or there would be numerous examples on the Internet and a number of responses by now.

 

[Phogan87]

You can still see remnant of the red in person, but I don't think it really showed up well in the photos that I took. I agree that the font is different from other examples that I've seen and I've even seen different versions of the crown all with a GR underneath it. I'm wondering if different makers of dice used different metal die designs to stamp them….
Oh yeah, and you're right, I cast a pretty wide net amongst a couple of forums trying to get answers. This has been a tough nut to crack.

 

[R. Porter]

Sometimes the simple things are really complex and have a complicated story behind them. Seeing things in person often helps a great deal. There may be a number of reasons the fonts don't look the same. You probably need to understand how the die stamping process worked to understand different fonts/crown designs. Perhaps these were period counterfeit stamps to avoid paying the tax.

 

[Phogan87]

Thanks for everyone's help. I really appreciate everyone on this forum.