Vintage Monopoly Board Game, 1954 Edition,Parker Brothers

This is a vintage 1954 Monopoly game by Parker Brothers with the original game board.
Such a classic!!!
All pieces are accounted for- board, dice, tokens, green plastic houses, red plastic hotels, money and 'land' deeds or cards.

The game tokens as you will see in pictures are wooden!!
I was a little skeptical myself but after research found the game of Monopoly quickly became increasingly popular and by 1936, Parker Brothers could not keep metal tokens needed for the game in supply.
Because of this short fall, the company substituted the metal tokens for different colorful shaped wooden pieces or cylinders at the time.
During WWII, when demand for all metal was at a high, the wooden tokens re-appeared and became standard for the period. Bakelite tokens were also utilized during these times.
It seems an elephant, train, and other crude shapes were introduced with this new type of token material.
Huh!!! Who knew!?

The original box is yellow and red with the Millionaire boldly waving money in the air alongside two railroad engines- it has mild rubbing on the edges due to use and age.

The original game board is intact
It has 22 cards- 2 utilities-4 Railroads- Total 28 cards
Instructions for play and instructions for a short play version
12 red hotels, 32 green houses, 16 chance cards, 16 community cards, 8 wooden tokens, 2 dice and of course paper money



The game board measures 19 1/4" x 19 1/4"

Almost any person around the world has at least heard of the game Monopoly.
Most have even played the game. Monopoly is one of the best selling board games of all time, and according to the Hasbro website (owner of Parker Brothers Game Company who first widely produced the game), it is sold in over 103 countries and published in 41 different languages.

For any Monopoly player, one of the first decisions of the game is to choose which token is going to represent him while moving around the board.
Over the years, these game tokens found inside a Monopoly box have included many different styles.
Charles Darrow, designer of Monopoly and who originally sold homemade games himself in 1933, decided to leave the choice of token entirely up to the player.

In the book, Timeless Toys by Tim Walsh, Walsh shares that the directions for Darrow’s game simply state, “See that each player is provided with some token.” It seems any small object a player could find around the house would suffice. This option may provide the basis for some of the selections Parker Brothers later featured. The common and small household item of the thimble would have made an ideal game piece and may have influenced the future game makers to include it in the game’s tokens.

The first Monopoly game tokens, produced by Parker Brothers in 1935, were the thimble, ship, shoe, hat, cannon, and iron. These tiny game pieces were made of metal. Curiously, a few of the earliest tokens have been discovered to consist of a small hole. It has been suggested by game historians these game tokens were actually charms intended for bracelets. Before Parker Brothers had employed their own molds for tokens, the company may have utilized charms. Since early players needed to supply their own game tokens, they had used charms. Parker Brothers may have just followed suit.

Throughout Monopoly’s production, other metal tokens turned up in the games. Collectors are always on the lookout for the rare rocking horse, lantern, and purse which were included in certain early editions. The adorable and well known Scottie dog emerged after the war, along with the horse and rider, wheelbarrow, car, and airplane.